lillian vernon who created a catalog business that specialized in personalized gifts and gadgets dies at 88 creditsuzy allman for the new york timesdec 14 2015lillian vernon who created a sprawling catalog business that specialized in personalized gifts and ingenious gadgets and made her an american household name died on monday in manhattan she was 88her death was confirmed by her son fred p hochberg the president and chairman of the exportimport bank of the united statesms vernon who had come to the united states as a jewish immigrant from germany fleeing the nazis began her mailorder business in 1951 and it rapidly flourished at one time it had nine catalogs 15 outlet stores two websites a businesstobusiness division and yearly revenue close to 300 millionin 1987 lillian vernon was the first company owned by a woman to be listed on the american stock exchange in 1995 president bill clinton appointed her chairwoman of the national womens business councilshe was a phenomenal merchandiser the direct marketing consultant katie muldoon said when she started there were only huge books like sears and montgomery ward that had every kind of merchandise like a department store lillian vernon created a new retail market catalogs with a theme personalized products that you couldnt find anywhere elseher niche was whimsical lowcost items that could be monogrammed at no charge in days rather than weeks to find them she traveled the world looking for distinct products and sources long before the global marketplace opened upher catalogs always began with a letter describing where she was traveling and what she had found accompanied by a photograph showing a smiling ms vernon in a chanel suit with the latest hairstylelillian was not just selling merchandise mr hochberg said in an interview for this obituary in 2009 she was personally sharing her discoveries with her customersimagecreditlillian vernona middleclass homemaker herself ms vernon had what she called a golden gut for knowing what women wanted often even before they knew her products were as diverse as rescued shards of ming vases fashioned into pendants and bracelets and the allpink lady tool kit complete with hammer screwdrivers wrenches and sometimes a power drillher catalogs attracted celebrity customers among them frank sinatra monogrammed lint removers arnold schwarzenegger plastic shoulder shields for suits princess caroline of monaco a wild west costume for her daughter and steven spielberg a tool caddyms vernon was credited as the first to create seasonal catalogs for easter and halloween she was also an innovator of the giftwithpurchase concept offering for example one potholder for each season for every 10 purchase that meant spending 40 to get the whole seti know my customer because i am my customer she said but she also attributed her success to her intestinal fortitudei never gave up she said and i never let anyone get in my waylillian vernon was born lilli menasche in leipzig germany on march 18 1927 the daughter of herman menasche and the former erna feiner her father was