Jun 6, 2009

Russ Berrie’s widow finds joy as owner of Kate’s Paperie specialty paper chainBy Joan VerdonNJ.com

Angelica Berrie — philanthropist, former Russ Berrie chief executive and widow of that company’s founder — says she’s found new joy with a business venture that returned her to an old passion: paper.

Berrie, 54, bought the Kate’s Paperie company, a five-store chain of specialty paper, gift wrap and gift stores in Manhattan and Greenwich, Conn., last fall and recently acquired a majority stake in Boston International, an upscale paper products and party ware distributor.

In an interview last week, Berrie said her new role directing Kate’s Paperie has proved to be “good therapy” during a time when the infant bedding and furniture company her husband founded is being restructured and preparing to shed the Russ Berrie name.

Berrie, an Englewood resident, served as CEO of Russ Berrie for two years following the death of her husband on Christmas Eve 2002. She eventually removed herself from the company — now based in Wayne — after pressure from shareholders who felt turnaround experts should be brought in to lead the company in a new direction. She sold the Russ Berrie Foundation’s 42 percent stake in the company to two private-investment firms in 2006 for $99.4 million.

Between 2006 and 2008, she devoted herself to the foundation’s many charitable projects.

But Berrie also began looking for a new business venture “because I wanted to challenge myself. I didn’t want to be a lunch lady,” she said.

Berrie had been a fan of the Kate’s Paperie chain for years. She sold paper products to them 20 years ago, when she owned a factory in the Philippines that made paper jewelry, papier-mache ornaments and other items. Berrie is taking over the company at a time when consumers are putting the brakes on discretionary spending on luxuries such as handmade paper.

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