Sonny Joseph passed away peacefully on Feb. 27 after a brief illness.
Sonny was a founding partner of Napier, Joseph and McNamara, our New York City sales representatives for the past 30 years. We worked on a daily basis with Sonny for more than 15 years. She helped introduce WallGoldfinger to hundreds of designers, dealers and clients in New York.
More importantly than being a salesperson, Sonny was a friend to many of our clients. She invited them for lunch and got them theater tickets. She had a gift for communicating a sincere interest in a person. She remembered and was genuinely interested in everyone's family and friends. She would thrill in their triumphs and comfort them in distress.
She was "usually polite," but she could get away with saying things that often made me blush. Many a designer enjoyed seeing my discomfiture at Sonny's candid remarks.
Sonny was always positive and funny, and very calm in all our "furniture emergencies." But I did not escape her honest assessments. She would kindly let me know what she thought of me: lose a little weight, get a new suit, get a new winter hat.
She loved the Hall of Fame formal awards dinner. And she had a very full life, as evident in the fabulous yearend letters she would send. They were full of travel to Mexico, Israel and Africa, lots of theater and tales of her house in the country.
She was a great friend to so many, and to me.
When I had cancelled hotel reservations for one of my many visits to New York, her couch awaited me. She and her husband, Selly, always welcomed me.
Sonny dragged me to the theatre. At "Auntie Mamie," she had her husband asleep on one side of her and me asleep on the other.
She and Selly drove to our factory in Vermont one evening during the biggest snowstorm of the winter of 1995. They were very proud of that.
Sonny loved the city, the industry and the architects and designers with whom she worked. She continues that love in her death through her family, which is asking support for the Parsons School of Design. Send checks "In Memory of Sonny Joseph/Scholarship" to:
The New School Development Office
Attn: Gift Accounting Department
79 Fifth Avenue, 17th Floor
New York, NY 10003
Or visit newschool.edu/give-nowand select "Parsons School of Design Annual Fund." Enter who the gift is in memory of. Gifts may be designated to scholarships at Parsons or the Interior Design program (part of Parsons' School of Constructed Environments.
Sincerely,
John Wall
CEO
