Former Luxottica govt Ed Jankowski died Saturday at his house in Pompano Seashore, Fla., on the age of 72.

He had battled prostate most cancers for the previous 5 years, in response to his niece Jamie Jankowski, whom he mentored and is now senior director of design and merchandising at Brahmin USA.

Daily since that analysis, Ed Jankowski “fought with a smile on his face” and would advise others, “‘Don’t rely the times. Make the times rely,’” his niece mentioned Monday. His zeal for that motto was so unwavering that he received his first tattoo with these phrases on his 72nd birthday in July.

A celebration of life for Jankowski is being deliberate in Westchester County, N.Y., for December, and one other celebration of life might be held in Pompano Seashore in January. Per his needs, a cremation is happening.

A member of the Equipment Council Corridor of Fame, the New York govt labored for a number of trend and equipment corporations together with Luxottica’s Luxurious Retail Group, the place he was vice chairman and basic supervisor. In that submit, he oversaw Ilori Optical, Optical Store of Aspen and Persol shops, creating new prototypes and broadening its footprint within the U.S. and Canada. Lately, Jankowski labored as a marketing consultant. Earlier than that, he served as chief govt officer of XpresSpa, constructing upon the chain’s airport places Stateside and in Europe. 

Born in Kingston, N.Y., to an IBM govt and a homemaker, he and his 4 siblings had been raised in Mahopac, N.Y. After attending Rider Faculty in New Jersey, the style-minded Jankowski, whose apparel was at all times pristine, as had been his manicures, set out for a profession in trend and equipment. His niece mentioned, “The joke within the household was ‘Uncle Ed solely makes use of Gucci rest room paper.’ That was from the time he was 13.”

A self-starter, Jankowski networked his means into the business, whereas sustaining a meticulous eye on the main points of trend, merchandising and shops, his niece mentioned. One in every of his first jobs was at Liz Claiborne, the place he as soon as introduced her as a 12-year-old to the corporate’s “Take Your Daughter to Work Day.” One other certainly one of Jankowski’s early posts was at World Responsibility Free Americas. Throughout his profession, Jankowski additionally labored at Solstice Sunglass Boutique, a division of Safilo, and Godiva Chocolatier.

A pure connector throughout totally different industries, Jankowski knew how you can speak to folks and understood the artwork of the schmooze, his niece mentioned. Bigger-than-life and kind-hearted, the equipment specialist served on the board of administrators for the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising, or LIM Faculty, and was a previous advisory board member on the Vogue Institute of Know-how — Equipment.

The Equipment Council’s president and CEO Karen Giberson mentioned Jankowski first received concerned with the group, which is greater than 30 years previous, in its early days. Jankowski tried to give up the council, when he joined Godiva in an govt position. “We mentioned, ‘Ed, you may’t give up,’ and he mentioned, ‘Karen, it’s not a trend or equipment firm.’ We justified that by saying, ‘Look, there’s not a trendy counter that doesn’t have chocolate on the checkout and Godiva is the excellent merchandise for that,’” Giberson recalled Monday.

“He got here again to me a few days later and mentioned, ‘OK, chocolate is an adjunct that we put on on our hips,’” she mentioned. “That was Ed. He was at all times making you snort. When a mutual good friend was being honored at an occasion, he was the one main the cheer. He stood up and received the entire room chanting. He was the celebration chief.” 

As soon as the New York celebration of life is held, Tito’s drinks will “positively be served” to visitors, since Jankowski was such a fan that the liquor firm sponsored a celebration in his honor in 2015, Giberson mentioned.

Jankowski, whose first marriage resulted in divorce, married his husband Patrick Van Den Berg in 2002. Predeceased by his brother Ron, Jankowski is survived by his husband, his sister Mary Pfiel and brothers James and Frederick, in addition to two grandsons and different kinfolk.