People in the events industry were saddened to learn of Robert Isabell's passing earlier this week. A tweet late yesterday from planner Marcy Blum and a more detailed account from Vogue's William Norwich earlier this afternoon reported that the famed event designer was found dead in his New York home Tuesday.
After a weekend of events in the Hamptons, Isabell was reportedly expected in Paris this week, but after he didn't make his Monday flight, police were summoned to his home, where he apparently died in his sleep Sunday night.
Isabell had a reputation for celebrated yet understated events, and throughout his three-decade career in New York worked for notables such as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Lee Radziwill, and Harvey Weinstein. He planned Onassis's funeral and the weddings of her children Caroline Kennedy and John F. Kennedy Jr. Isabell was inducted into the BizBash Event Style Hall of Fame in 2003.
Details are still forthcoming, and requests for further information from Isabell's office weren't immediately returned. Vogue reported that Isabell's will indicated his desire not to have a memorial service and said he will be buried at heiress Bunny Mellon's Virginia estate. A 1999 piece in New York put Isabell at 57 years old this past June, though he told the magazine he was still 39, and would be for the rest of his life.
