Tony Staffieri, who played an instrumental role in the launch and success of Fashion Targets Breast Cancer, is widely remembered for his kindness, his wisdom, and a larger-than-life personality that made him a beloved figure in the fashion industry.
“Tony had the biggest smile and was the ultimate connecter,” CFDA President and CEO Steven Kolb said. “It was hard to say no to Tony, and whatever he asked me to do, I never regretted saying yes because it always was about helping others.”
Staffieri, who died earlier this month, was the Founding Executive Producer of the Fashion Targets Breast Cancer campaign for 11 years.
When Ralph Lauren created FTBC in 1994, he was searching for an executive to realize his vision for it, which led to Staffieri. Lauren had known him from several high-profile AIDS events that Staffieri and his firm Savvy Partners, Inc. provided PR services for. That, and a recommendation from then CFDA’s Executive Director Fern Mallis, landed him the role.
Staffieri was instrumental to bringing FTBC to the White House in the spring of 1994 with reception hosted by then-First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.
“He worked tirelessly on FTBC,” Mallis recalled. “He was the go-to-guy for me and for the initiative and creating a licensing program for it.
“He worked on a million interesting fun projects,” she added, calling him “a real out-of-the-box thinker who was able to put together great ideas and thought things through in a way that very few people in the industry did.”
At the time of his death, Lisa Silhanek, owner of Silhanek LLC, was working with Staffieri on his movie Grandma was a Bookie and television series Fruits on the Roof.
“My career at the CFDA was blessed by Tony’s wisdom, fun, and storytelling,” Silhanek recalled. “He was a great friend.”
Other projects throughout Staffieri’s career were with EcoSpun in partnership with Pepsi, Until There’s a Cure (ie. the AIDS Bracelet), Chantal Cookware, Opium Parfum, and the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. He also wrote the definition for Voguing, which was used in Webster’s dictionary (that’s before Madonna created the song).
“He spoke a mile a minute and had a bigger-than-life personality that you sometimes had to say, ‘Slow down, Tony,’” Mallis remembered. “He had so much energy and so much he wanted to do. There was never a minute that he didn’t have an idea that was for the greater good.”
Pictured: Tony Staffieri at the 2012 Pratt Institute Fashion Show and Cocktail Benefit.
