Lillian Vernon artifacts donated to the Smithsonian

The Smithsonian”™s National Museum of American History is hosting a ceremony today to receive artifacts from the family of business entrepreneur and philanthropist Lillian Vernon (1927-2015).

Fred P. Hochberg, the former president of Lillian Vernon Corp. and former chairman and president of the U.S. Export-Import Bank, and David Hochberg, former vice president of public affairs at Lillian Vernon Corp., are presenting the museum with a donation that includes the original kitchen table that Vernon used to launch her enterprise, along with company catalogs and other archival materials, examples of early merchandise and the scrapbook that Vernon kept as a teenager.

Vernon was born Lilli Menasche in Leipzig, Germany, and immigrated with her family to the U.S. after Hitler took control of their country. She took the surname Vernon after the Westchester town of Mount Vernon where she settled with her first husband, Samuel Hochberg. Vernon grew her home business into a major corporation that became the first business founded by a woman to be publicly traded on an American stock exchange.

Vernon would move to Greenwich and supported Connecticut nonprofits including the Bruce Museum in Greenwich and This Close for Cancer Research in Woodbridge. The Lillian Vernon Foundation endowed a chair for entrepreneurship at New York University and funded arts programs, medical research and services for the elderly.

Photo courtesy of the Connecticut Women”™s Hall of Fame