- Date Of Birth: January 29, 1935
- Date Of Death: November 9, 2017
- State: Connecticut
Reenie Brown Makowsky, wife of the late Roy Makowsky, died peacefully in her home at Meadow Ridge in Redding on Thursday, November 9, 2017. She was 82. Reenie is survived by daughter Lynn Prowitt and grandson Cole Prowitt-Smith, of Fairfield.
She was born on January 29, 1935, in New Jersey but grew up in Darien. She attended UConn and received a master’s degree from Manhattanville College. She lived in New York City until 1970, when she moved to Westport and began working at Business Journals, in Norwalk. Over 30 years with the company she became publications director and vice president. She launched Accessories magazine in 1975, Fashion Accessories Expo (FAE), the first trade show for that industry, in 1981, and founded the Fashion Accessories Benefit Ball (FABB) in 1991, the industry’s largest fundraising event. To date, FABB has raised almost $12 million for charities.
When she wasn’t busy building those enterprises, she devoted herself to animal welfare, at the local, national, and international level-rescuing homeless animals, funding and organizing spay-neuter programs and pet adoption efforts, and supporting political candidates and legislation to protect animals from cruelty and overpopulation. She was also a strong supporter of women’s rights throughout her lifetime.
