Roger Forsythe; Menswear Fashion Designer
Roger Forsythe, 36, head fashion designer for the Perry Ellis menswear company. Born in Missouri and raised in Texas, Forsythe was educated at the University of Houston and the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. Asked to join the Ellis group in 1988 as vice president and men’s design director, he was credited with turning around company profits, which had sagged since Ellis’ death in 1986. Forsythe, saying he wanted to “take the stigma off the disease,” notified his staff last August that he had AIDS. On Sunday in New York of HIV-related lymphatic cancer.
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