Camilla Dietz Bergeron Dies at 76

RAPAPORT... Camilla Dietz Bergeron, a connoisseur of jewelry and cofounderof the estate jeweler that bears her name, has died at the age of 76, TheTennessean reported. Bergeron (pictured) died last Sunday surrounded by her family and lovedones, according to the report. Born in Covington, Georgia, Bergeron graduated with honorsin Economics from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. After earningher degree in 1964, she moved to New York, where she joined theinvestment-analysis department of Chase Manhattan Bank. Several years later,she joined Seiden & De Cuevas, a small institutional brokerage andinvestment-banking firm. Within 10 years of graduating, Bergeron, together with fourpartners, formed Furman, Selz, Mager, Dietz and Birney, which providedinvestment-banking services and research on small and medium-sized companies.Xerox Corporation, the printing company, later acquired the firm. That deal enabled her to invest her share of the saleproceeds and launch a business buying and selling antique, period and estatejewelry. She teamed up with Gus Davis in 1989 to form estate-jewelry company CamillaDietz Bergeron, which she and Davis ran as business partners. Bergeron was copresident of the American Society of JewelryHistorians. She also became a board member of the Vanderbilt Board of Trust,and was in demand as an appraiser and lecturer. Organizers of balls andfund-raising events often chose the company she cofounded to act as theirofficial jeweler, The Tennessean said. She taught summer courses at the Universityof Maine on how to wear jewelry, and supplied jewelry for photography in magazinessuch as Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. She received an award from the Museum of Art and Design in2017, and was a founding member of the Committee of 200, a women's leadershipgroup. Bergeron was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in her 30s.When walking became hard for her, she began traveling Manhattan's sidewalks ona scooter. She leaves behind her husband of 31 years, Jean Maurice GeorgesBergeron, and her sister, Harriet (William) Nunnally of Social Circle, Georgia,according to the report.