Michael Gross - Genuine Authentic: The Real Life of Ralph Lauren

Contents

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Trying to reconstruct a life when the person who lived it wont help you can be a difficult task. In total, I contacted more than 850 people. Some declined to participate. A few, as discussed in the Authors Note at the beginning of the book, wished to remain anonymous. In the absence of their names, I thank them from the bottom of my heart for giving me their time and trusting me with their memories. The names of most of the rest are listed below. I have undoubtedly forgotten a few and to them, I apologize. The names that follow include people who gave interviews, people who helped me find people who gave interviews, and people who were simply helpful or kind as I tried to learn about Ralph Lauren.

Thanks, then, to Slim Aarons, Lewis I. Aaronson, Joseph Abboud, Natalie Albin, Tzvi Abusch, Milton Adesnick, Joe Aezen, Albert Aldasaro, Theoni V. Aldredge, Woody Allen (and his assistant, Sarah Allentuch), Robert Amdur, Arnaldo Anaya-Lucca, Gil Arazi, Robert Asch, Barry Augenbraun, Julian AvRutick, Jeffrey Banks, Roz Barasch, Harold Baron, Joe Barrato, Jack Barry, Wilkes Bashford, Serena Bass, Bob Beauchamp, Alexandre Beider, Phillip Benblatt, Mike Bernhardt, Harvey Bernstein, Michael Bernstein, Peder Bertelsen, Neil Betten, Tom Bezucha, Maurice Bidermann, Steve Bloom, Ralph Blum, Alvin Blumenfeld, Susan Boersen, Jerry and Helene Gerhardt Bond, Dennis Bookshester, Ann Boyd, Ed Brandau, Pam Branstetter, Steve and Marsha Bratter, Carol Stillman Braunschweiger, Steven Braunstein, Fredric Brenner, Judy Bring, Martin Bring, Ted Broome, Shirley Brower, Hank Brown, George Bruder, Nat and Lillian Buchman, Esther Buchsbaum, Joseph Jeb Buchwald, Jules Buchwald, Amanda Burden, Ellen Burnie, Joan Burstein, Sidney Burstein, Murray Burton, Albert Capraro, Patt Carr, Sal Cesarani, Rabbi Zevulun Charlop, Linda Churilla, Maggie Clare, Alberto Cohen, Doreen Cohen, Lois Schulman Cohen, Oscar Ockie Cohen, Sy Cohen, Mack Colin, Phineas Connell, Bill Connors, Alan Cooper, Joel Cooperman, Mel Creedman, Nancy Crumley, Rabbi Irwin Cutler, Rabbi Jerry Cutler, Steve Damsker, Susan Damsker, Rose Damsky, Leslee Dart, Rudy Davison, Alan Dershowitz, Sandy Lokietz Dworkin, Sam Edelman, Anthony Edgeworth, Lee Eisenberg, Arie Lova Eliav, Alvin Eppy Epstein, Sylvia Ettenberg, Charles Fagan, Erik Fallenius, Mike Farina, Josephine Fay, Seymour Feder, Doris Feder Blumberg, Herbert Feinberg, Daniel Feigen, Phil Pinky Feiner, Marvin Feinsmith, Clay Felker, Jerry Ferguson, Steve Finkel, Don Fisher, Alan Flusser, Angela Fowler, Luke Fowler, Neal J. Fox, Samuel G. Freedman, Michael Fried, Melvin Friedland, George Friedman, Jeanette Friedman, Marty Friedman, Norman Friedman, Sorel Friedman, Dan Frucher, Alfred Fuoco, Nick Gamarello, Susan Gammie, Bernie Geizer, Shelly Geller, Neil Gerhardt, Morton Gitter, Ed Glantz, Lawrence Gluck, David Goldberg, Gary Goldberg, Les Goldberg, Paul Goldberger, Neal Goldman, Henry Gootblatt, Mort Gordon, Carolyn Gottfried, Bruce G. Boyer, Milly Graves, Vivian Moser Greene, Martin Greenfield, Charles Griffen, Bill Griss, Clifford Grodd, Mindy Grossman, Gloria Gresham, Don Guerra, Judith Haber, Emily Hacker, Melissa Hacker, Harriet Hand, Donald Harris, Claudia Hawkins, Rabbi Michael Hecht, Nancy Heitman, Steve Heitman, Rabbi Jonathan Helfand, Harvey Hellman, Warren Helstein, Jack Hiller, Nick Hilton, Norman Hilton, Marcia Hirsch, Fred Hirschberg, June Hochwald, Kristin Clotilde Holby, Martin Honig, Doug Hopkins, David Horowitz, Michael J. Horowitz, Jennifer Houser Hoglund, John Howell, Jonnie Hoye, Charlie Hughes, Joan Hyler, Luke Irons, Merle Jenkins, Kenneth Johansen, David Kantes, James Kaplan, Joel Kaplan, Chuck Kaufman, Brian Kaye, Jerry Kaye, Walter Kaye, Susan Kennedy, Jerome Kern, Richard Khentigan, Martin Klein, Alvin Kohn, Hester Koota, Pete Korn, Marilyn Kowaleski, Reed Krakoff, Stuart Kreisler, Melanie Kreuzser, Saul Krotki, Stanley Kupinsky, Murray Kurzman, Mark Kutsher, Jay Ladin, Eleanor Lambert, Brigitte Langevin, Leonard Lauren, Marvin Lederman, Gloria Leonard, Gary Lessin, Joel Levine, Lew Levine, Barry Levites, Barbara Levy, Edwin Lewis, Alex Liberman, Monte Lichtiger, Rabbi Seymour Liebler, Seymour Linden, Armand Lindenbaum, Mike Lobel, Daniel Loeb, Tom Low-Beer, Frank Low-Beer, Jerry Magnin, Jacques Malignon, Jay Marron, Bryan Marsal, Mark Matszak, Andrew McCullough, Barry McKinley, Nathan Sonny Meiselman, Nina Meledandri, Risha Meledandri, Bob Melet, William Merriken, Hank Meyerson, Ronnie Miller, Joseph Mimran, Ted Moews, Bernadine Morris, Arlene Morse, Sy Morse, Stanley Moses, Avrohom Moshel, Seymour Moskowitz, Jack Mulqueen, Westin Naeff, Avram Doc Nathanson, Marilyn Newman, Chris Nolan, Sam Norich, Maggie Norris, Andrs Oblath, Dan Offen, David Oswald, Murray Palatnick, Jimmy Palazzo, Janie Paris Guerra, Ed Pastoucha, Rabbi Leonard Pearl, Dave Pensky, Richard Perez-Pena, Rabbi Jechial Perr, Shlomo Pfeifer, Rabbi Israel Pilchick, Steven Pilchick, Marilyn Pincus, Audrey Polinsky, Edwin Polsky, Judith Putterman, Sugar Rautbord, Robert Raymond, Abe Reiss, Jill Resnick, Hilda Riback, Dave Richman, Ronnie Roberts, Bobby Roman, Jean Rosenberg, Len Rosenfeld, Richard Roth, Jay H. Rothbaum, Howie Rothman, Irving Thomas Rothenberg, Ralph Rothenberg, Randall Rothenberg, Melvin Rothman, Joel Rudish, Jimmy Runsdorf, Jim Rushton, Sid Rutberg, Robert Ruttenberg, Steve Samtur, Shari Sant Plummer, Robert Schiff, William Schimel, Herb Schimmel, Norm and Leonore Schlissel, Ernie Schmatola, Charles Schnall, Nechemiah Schneider, Norman Duke Schneider, Jeffrey Schneier, Ian Schrager, Jack Schultz, Elaine Segal, Phil Seiden, Carol Sessler Howard, Larry Shapiro, Aliza Sharon, Matthew Shatzkes, Gerald Shaw, Carol Siegel, Mike Siegel, Leonard Sirowitz, Larry Sirolli, Irving Skydell, Anita Skydell Chanowitz, Bill Sofield, Marty Staff, Malcolm Starr, Bob Steckler, Michael Steinberg, Dr. Mike Stillman, Robert Stock, Harvey Stoller, Neil Butch Stoller, Seymour Sim Storch, Bohumir Strnad, Jan Strnad, Jeff Strnad, Dick Tarlow, Monika Tilley, Barbara Tilzer-Frankel, Emanuel Topal, Samuel Topal. Mike Toth, Isabelle Townshend, Jeffrey Trachtenberg, Goldine Eismann Triantafyllou, Louise Mead Tricard, Pauline Trigre, Gil Trueddson, Carll Tucker, Yvette Vega at Charlie Rose, Salvatore Vergopia, Dov and Gila Vogel, Anne Wade, William Waldeck, Bruce Weber, Solomon Weider, Arlene Weiner, John Weitz, Howard West, Renee Whiteman, Abe Wiesel, Ted Wiesenthal, Louise Wilson, Brigitte Winkler, Robert Wolders, Daniel Wolf, Martin Wolpin, Esther Wyszkowy, Bonnie Young, Mario Zadra, Alan Zaitz, Steven Zaitz, Michel Zelnik, Vic Ziegel, Mel and Patricia Ziegler, and Loretta Wein Zimmer.

I want to single out Lenny Lauren, Marvin Traub, and Richard Friedman of Goldman Sachs, each of whom helped greatly despite understandably mixed feelings about the project. Ralphs best friend, Steve Bell, wanted to help, but finally did not at Laurens request. I respect both impulses. Lynn Tesoro and Hamilton South, formerly of Polo Ralph Lauren, did the best they could under trying circumstancesand I appreciate it. Ralph Laurens assistant, Kathleen Natoli, provided a conduit to him when all others were closed off.