Phyllis Pressman

Phyllis Pressman, the matriarch of the family that founded Barneys New York, the discount men’s wear store turned luxury emporium — and the creator of Chelsea Passage, the store’s home goods bazaar, a pivot point in its evolution from a suit merchant to an elite lifestyle behemoth — died on Tuesday April 30 2024 in Palm Beach, Fla. She was 95. Her death, in a hospice facility, was announced by her son Gene Pressman. Barney's was named for Barney Pressman, who in 1923 pawned his wife’s ring, at her encouragement, for $500 to buy the lease of a small store on Seventh Avenue and 17th Street in Manhattan. There, he built an empire selling brand-name suits at cut-rate prices. His son, Fred, who took over in the 1950s, transformed the place into an haute men’s retailer that included European designers. Phyllis Pressman was married to Fred. Fred Pressman’s sons, Gene and Robert, transformed the place as their father once had, overseeing the creation in the mid-1980s of a women’s store. Phyllis was involved in the development and operations of Chelsea's Passage - which offered unique items for the home, Phyllis Ruth Epstein was born on Jan. 17, 1929, in Queens. Her father, Mortimer Epstein, worked as a wholesaler in the textile industry; her mother, Dorothy (Schapiro) Epstein, had been a child actress. Her parents divorced when she was 10, after which her mother remarried and moved the family to Lawrence, N.Y., on Long Island. Phyllis attended Parsons College, a private liberal arts college in Iowa that has since closed, and the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut. Ms. Pressman, her sons and her daughters, Elizabeth Neubardt and Nancy Dressler, all of whom had worked in the family business most of their lives, stayed on until 1998. But relations among the siblings had become strained. Robert Pressman, who oversaw the company’s finances, was sued successfully by his sisters for mishandling the family trust. By early 1996, the empire began to come apart, and Barneys filed for bankruptcy. Fred Pressman died that summer. In addition to her children, Ms. Pressman is survived by 11 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. In 2001, she married Joseph Gurwin, who made his fortune, much of which he gave away, manufacturing specialized textiles like those used in bulletproof vests. Mr. Gurwin died in 2009. In 2019, Barney's was once again in bankruptcy, it shuttered for good.