Jeannette Solomon, 97, Society Matron Who Tended Flowers
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Jeannette Solomon, who died yesterday at 97, was the wife of the chairman of Abraham & Straus, but when she was widowed in 1975, she joined a florist’s firm and developed her own service maintaining plants in offices.
Solomon was raised in Boston, the daughter of Lottie and Joseph Rabinowitz, whose family founded Stop & Shop Company, initially called Economy Grocery Stores Company in Somerville, Mass.
In 1930, she was married to Sidney Solomon, and the couple moved to New York four years later, when he joined Abraham & Straus.
During World War II, she served in the interceptor command of the civil defense effort, identifying aircraft flying in and out of the New York area while keeping watch for the enemy. She also served with the American Red Cross, facilitating the home transfer from the war zone of hardship personnel cases.
Long interested in flower arranging, Solomon joined the Upper East Side florist Green Thumb not long after her husband’s death. Maintaining office greenery could put her in unlikely situations for a society matron. One day, the chief executive officer of Philip Morris, George Weissman, called her son Peter, saying Mr. Solomon’s mother had walked in to water Mr. Weissman’s plants while he was in a business meeting.
Solomon was said to be the oldest living alumna of Radcliffe College, and she created the Radcliffe Club of New York Art Tour. The house tours raised funds for charity while opening to thousands of visitors the noted art collections of Mary Lasker, Helena Rubinstein, and Arthur Emil.
Solomon was also a trustee of a home for unwed mothers, the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York-UJA, and the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. In conjunction with the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies, Solomon helped develop model programs to allow senior citizens to continue to reside within normal housing. The first so-called naturally occurring retirement community was in the Penn South housing complex in Chelsea.
Jeannette Solomon
Born Jeannette Rabinowitz on May 15, 1909, in Boston; died December 18 at her home in Manhattan; survived by two sons, Richard, the president of a New York art gallery, Pace Prints, and Peter, founder of the investment banking firm bearing his name, five grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.
