Marjorie Schlesinger Deane (April 18, 1923 – November 22, 2003) was an American fashion authority and industry leader for more than sixty years. She was the Chairman of the ''Tobe Report,'' an influential weekly merchandising publication and consulting service, with clients responsible for over $400 billion in sales at the time of her death. She began her fashion career in the Executive Training Program at the

Franklin Simon Franklin Simon (February 7, 1865 – October 4, 1934), was the owner of Franklin Simon & Co., a department store in Manhattan, New York City. The store was founded in February 1902, when Simon partnered with Herman A. Flurscheim. Early life Fra ...

Department Store. While there, she also attended Finch College and then the Tobe Coburn School, where she graduated with distinction in 1943, earning the top alumni prize, the Mehitabel, on two occasions. Following Franklin Simon, she worked at The ''Tobe Report,'' and then was recruited by

Macy's Macy's is an American department store chain founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. The first store was located in Manhattan on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, south of the present-day flagship store at Herald Square on West 34 ...

, becoming its first female Senior Vice President. At Macy's she was responsible for many innovations, and was one of the first women to cover the European collections, to which she returned for the next fifty years. While at Macy's, she was asked by Fleur Cowles to be the Fashion Editor at '' Look Magazine''. In 1963, she returned to the'' Tobe Report,'' eventually assuming full ownership. At Tobe, she advised most of the largest retailers in the world, including

Federated Department Stores Macy's, Inc. (previously Federated Department Stores, Inc.) is an American holding company of department stores. Upon its establishment in 1929, Federated held ownership of the regional department store chains Abraham & Straus, Lazarus (departm ...

, The May Company,

Wal-Mart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

Neiman Marcus Neiman Marcus is an American department store chain founded in 1907 in Dallas, Texas by Herbert Marcus, his sister Carrie Marcus Neiman, and her husband Abraham Lincoln Neiman. It has been owned by Saks Global, a Corporate spin-off, spin-o ...

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...

Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue (Colloquialism, colloquially Saks) is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain founded in 1867 by Andrew Saks. The first store opened in the F Street and 7th Street shopping districts, F Street shopping distric ...

and more than two hundred other clients. She was considered to have been the first journalist to have championed many of the nation's top designers, including

Calvin Klein Calvin Richard Klein (born November 19, 1942) is an American fashion designer. In 1968, he launched the company that later became Calvin Klein. In addition to clothing, he has also given his name to a range of perfumes, watches, and jewellery. ...

Perry Ellis Perry Edwin Ellis (March 3, 1940 – May 30, 1986) was an American fashion designer who founded his eponymous sportswear house in the mid-1970s. Ellis' influence on the fashion industry has been called "a huge turning point" because he in ...

and

Halston Roy Halston Frowick (April 23, 1932 – March 26, 1990), known mononymously as Halston, was an American fashion designer, who rose to international fame in the 1970s. Halston's minimalist, clean designs, which were often made of cashmere or ...

. She was at the first

Dior Christian Dior SE (), commonly known as Dior, is a French Multinational corporation, multinational luxury goods company that is controlled and chaired by French businessman Bernard Arnault, who also heads LVMH. , Dior controlled around 42% of ...

and St. Laurent presentations, and was one of their earliest proponents. Marjorie Deane also served on many Boards, including The Girl Scouts of New York (for which she Chaired their first million dollar fundraiser) and the Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club, where she was a co - founder of the Decorator's Show House. She was also the Chair of the Lenox School and Finch College Boards, in addition to being the President of the Fashion Group, and working on the CFDA and Coty Boards.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deane, Marjorie S. 1923 births 2003 deaths American businesspeople