“IN LOVING MEMORY OF JULIUS “JULIE” STERN”
………………….I loved Julie Stern…………….He was one of the sweetest, kindest man I ever knew……I met Julie when I first went to Anne Klein. He had already worked with Anne Klein until her death, and now he was working with two 23 year old very young and green adults……Julie quickly took on the role as our protector, and that he was in every way. He was in charge of everything that had to do with fabric from the development to the shipping and receiving of the production orders. There wasn’t a day that we didn’t work together. He was my Anne Klein father, and he treated us, Donna and myself, as his children…..We traveled all over the world together and he took care of us…..Many times Julie and I were room mates, and he was the best most considerate room mate I ever had…….except for one thing…….He liked to sleep with the windows wide open ….even in the dead of winter…..I can recall many mornings in Germany, while at the Fabric Fair in Frankfurt, waking up to find SNOW ON MY QUILT!. For some reason I always had the bed near the window?…….There were always a group of Americans at these fairs, and sometimes they would happen at Thanksgiving. Julie always made sure to organize a Thanksgiving dinner for 20 or more Americans who were there. Sometimes they were in a Schloss or castle with a huge, very elaborate dining hall. Afterwards we would all sit in the “living room” in front of a huge fireplace and have drinks and desert. Great memories, and I’m sure everyone who was there remembers those wonderful dinners……..When Donna and I were planning a new collection inevitably she would procrastinate about which were the final fabric we would select. We had many many many discussions about which fabrics to use. This flaw in Donna’s ability to make up her mind was no secret. At a certain point Julie would take me aside after losing all patients with her , and say “Louis, you have to get her to make up her mind or else it would be too late to get deliveries and too late for a collection to be delivered”. I had to sit down with her alone and read her the riot act!! I told her we weren’t going to leave the office until decisions were made, and we could tell Julie what we wanted……The job was always done…..Donna has told me herself that I was the only person she ever worked with who could intimidate her……I had no idea….I was just trying to get the work done for Julie………When Julie eventually left to join Donna in her new company, I was heartbroken as he was everything that made me feel safe in this huge company….this 500 million dollar machine depending on me alone. I understood in my brain that this was an important move for Julie…..to become the president of Donna Karan Inc, but it took me quite a while to get over my personal loss. I missed sitting in his office, just him and I having a cup of coffee taking about his escape from Nazi Germany as a young teenager….his family and his lovely wife Nina…….Over the years we lost touch, and when he left Donna Karan Inc. I never saw him again. Sometimes no news is good news………….so it was heart breaking once again to find out Julie passed away at the beautiful age of 97………..I always thought Julie would be here taking care of me.
