Memorial Set for Etta Froio, the Fashion Editor Who Spent 54 Years at WWD
A memorial service for Etta Froio, the longtime fashion editor of Women's Wear Daily, will be held on 24 September at Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel, 1076 Madison Avenue, New York City. The service begins at 2 p.m. and will be followed by a reception until 5 p.m. It is open to Froio's friends and loved ones, with no RSVP required, WWD reported on 24 August.
Froio died on 11 June at a care facility in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease. She was 94.
Her career spanned 54 years at WWD and its sister publication W, where she served as senior vice president, executive editor and associate publisher of Fairchild Publications, the parent company of both titles. She retired in March 2012, an occasion WWD marked with a special issue.
John B. Fairchild, chairman of Fairchild Publications, credited Froio and her colleagues with the newspaper's rise. "Women's Wear Daily would never have gotten off the old ground if it hadn't been for Etta and the other ladies of the crew," he said, praising her ability to handle regime changes cheerfully.
Giancarlo Giammetti, co-founder of the Italian house Valentino, described Froio as "not only a remarkable journalist" but "a unique voice in fashion journalism." He said she "observed our world with insight, curiosity and a perspective that was entirely her own."
Froio was known across the industry for her fashion knowledge, wit and composure under pressure. She attended the Council of Fashion Designers of America awards gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York on 13 January 1987, WWD noted in a retrospective published on 11 June.
Beyond journalism, Froio lived on Manhattan's Upper East Side and in Southampton, New York. She bought and sold real estate in the Hamptons as a sideline and, with friends, published The Blue Book of the Hamptons, a social register for the area. She served on the boards of the Parrish Art Museum and the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, now known as Legal Momentum.
She excelled at tennis, enjoyed cooking and dancing, liked fast cars, and loved cats.
Froio is survived by her nephews Rick Colecchio; Dean Celia and his wife Dee; Paul Celia and his wife Melissa; Pete Celia; John Oram; and Thomas Oram; her niece Andrea Williams; and many great-nieces and great-nephews.
