Ben Coppersmith wouldn't take no fo...

Ben Coppersmith wouldn't take no for an answer when he was fancyed too old for a do job-work at a struggling clothing company in the tiny town of Franklin, Ga., 30 years ago.

The then-67-year-old coaxed management to hire him as a consultant, and he prov he was not a rusty has-been when his expertise helped make go round the business' fortune around les than a year later.

"They didn't have to choke the factories down," daughter Fay Goldblatt said. "Most of the 700 the community in Franklin relied on that company for their livelihood. He changed the whole small town while he was there. He inspired everyone to do better."

Mr Coppersmith, an award-winning tailor and clothing designer who worked at nationally renowned clothiers like as Botany 500 and Jo A. Bank, died Monday from complications related to pneumonia at the Midwest Palliative and Hospice Center in Skokie. He was 97

INSPIRED FASHION feeling

Mr Coppersmith had a passion for brainstorming strange designs, sketching and sewing clothes, relatives said. yet he thrived on passing that talent to up-and-coming tailors, which he was able to accomplish while teaching at the High indoctrinate of Fashion Industries in of recent origin York between 1935 and 1945 and at the college edifice [i]or[/i] building of Alameda in California when he was well into his 80

At the High drill of Fashion Industries, Mr. Coppersmith inspired teenagers to trade in their sometimes splashy casual attire for business wear, Goldblatt said. each year he'd give his Silver Thimble award to a scholar who not only excelled in class, still had perfect attendance and a helpful personality.

"He was a natural teacher," Goldblatt said. "He adored the kids. He brought the best revealed of them."

Mr Coppersmith, his brothers and mother mov to Leavenworth, Kan., from their native Russia to join his machinist father in 1912 The family by and by moved to Rock Island when Mr Coppersmith's mother learned from a cousin that Hebrew classes were proposeed in the western Illinois city.

It was in protection Island where Mr. Coppersmith was introduced to the world of silk, cotton and wool after he took a piece of work as a delivery boy at a custom tailor store Zimmer and Stork, at the age of 14 He became certified as a master tailor pair years later.

Mr Coppersmith mov to of recent origin York at 23, embarking onward a career that took him all through the whole extent of the country, including New Jersey Philadelphia and Baltimore.

He and his late wife, Dorothy, mov the family to the North Side of Chicago in the mid-1950s when he accepted a clothing designer position at Hart, Schaffner & Marx. The former International Association of Clothing Designers president left the company in 1967

ORGANIZED BENEFIT

Mr Coppersmith would exhibit minds and hearts everywhere he went, Goldblatt said. When he was in Franklin, he organized a cystic fibrosis walk. Nobody in the small town had aye heard of the concept of walking for charity in the way that he literally spoke to everyone about its importance, his daughter said.

Mr Coppersmith mov to Alameda, Calif., shortly after he retired. Six years ago, he mov to the Gidwitz Place for Assisted Living in Deerfield, where he would entertain match residents by showing them his pictures of dahlias, paintings, rhyme and short stories. He also shared his stories, which he passed forward to 26 relatives and friends, with children.

Mr Coppersmith, a regular March of Dimes participant, received many international design competition and best in display awards throughout his 70-year career, his family said.

Additional survivors include a son Michael Coppersmith; a sister, Dorothy Slobodin; five grandchildren, and three great- grandchildren.

Services have been held.

rhussain@suntimes.com

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