Arie Kopelman, Former President of Chanel, Dies at 86
Arie Kopelman, the former president and chief operating officer of Chanel Inc., who was credited for helping drive massive growth for the French luxury brand, died Monday night at the age of 86.
Kopelman’s daughter Jill Kargman posted news of his death on her Instagram account and said the cause of death was pancreatic cancer.
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Kopelman was known as a shrewd, hard-nosed businessman and savvy marketer with a sense of humor who endeared himself to the industry with his clever takes on the standards of marketing lingo and his uncanny impersonations of department store figures. “Retail is in the detail, darling,” was one of his favorites.
Alain Wertheimer, global executive chairman of Chanel, said, Tuesday, “Arie was an exceptional leader and a great asset to Chanel, helping to build an incredibly strong foundation for the House. More importantly, he was a dear friend with a fabulous sense of humor and will be sincerely missed.”
In a company statement, Chanel said, “We are deeply saddened to learn of Arie Kopelman’s passing. Arie was a visionary leader who carved an ambitious plan for Chanel, laying the foundation for a solid and enduring business. Known for his charisma and empathy, he embodied the qualities of a leader who cared deeply about mentoring those around him, creating a unique and rare culture. Arie was also a passionate philanthropist, supporting many cultural and charitable endeavors during his tenure at the House. He leaves behind an extraordinary professional and personal legacy — one that he should be immensely proud of.”
Born Sept. 23, 1938 in Brookline, Mass., Kopelman attended the Boston Latin School and Williston Academy and graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1960, where he studied pre-medicine but majored in art history. He later received an MBA from Columbia University.
Kopelman’s first job was at Procter & Gamble, marketing its Ivory soap bar. As part of his training, Kopelman spent six months in the sales field, in Reno, Nev., where he also took flying lessons, met Bill Harrod of Harrods casino as a classmate and was talked into trying out his comedy routine. In fact, there was a time in which Kopelman even considered a career as a stand-up comedian. He has said if he didn’t pursue retail, he might have landed in the entertainment business.
He once said that his father put the kibosh on that idea. “I like to joke that he came up with the magic word: disinheritance,” recalled Kopelman in a WWD story in 2013. “And doing lounge acts in Rochester didn’t seem too exciting.”
After three years at P&G, Kopelman left to join Doyle Dane Bernbach, the ad agency, as an account executive, where he spent the next 20 years rising up the ranks to become vice chairman and then a general manager. During his tenure at DDB Worldwide, he worked with such clients as JB Liquors, Heinz Ketchup and Chanel, which was one of his biggest accounts. He created ad campaigns for the French luxury brand.
In 1985, the owners of Chanel, Alain Wertheimer and Gerard Wertheimer, hired Kopelman as Chanel Inc.’s president and chief operating officer at their New York headquarters. The way Kopelman told it, [Alain] Wertheimer insisted he had no other choice when he hired Kopelman. He said Wertheimer told him, “I will never find someone whose wife’s name is Coco and whose first language is French. Come and run my company.”
Kopelman was hired to manage both Chanel and Frederic Fekkai Beaute in the U.S. on Jan. 6, 1986. Over the next 19 years, Kopelman expanded the company’s retail, fragrance, cosmetics, skin care, eyewear and accessories businesses, growing it into a multibillion-dollar enterprise.
When Kopelman got to Chanel, the brand had two freestanding boutiques and an annual revenue of a reported $357 million. By the time he retired as president and chief operating officer in 2004, there were 17 brick-and-mortar stores in the U.S., and by 2014, the brand was doing $7 billion in sales.
Facing increased competition from European luxury brands, Kopelman told WWD in 2000 that his plan was to remodel the stores (the company rolled out a sleek new retail format designed by Peter Marino) and corners across America, increase the ad spend, reach out to new customers with “irresistible” lower-priced goods and leverage the brand’s skin care collection. “The Chanel name means a lot — it’s a standard of luxury — but we want to make it even more relevant today,” Kopelman said.
Marino told WWD on Tuesday, “Arie Kopelman was certainly the most entertaining person I’ve worked with in my retail career by a long shot. He was also a driving force in philanthropy, hosting the Winter Antiques Show (as chairman) to the benefit of the East Side House Settlement. He did a brilliant job of raising funds for the South Bronx organization that serves over 10,000 children and families in need.”
Kopelman retired as president and chief operating officer of Chanel in 2004 and was succeeded by Banana Republic’s president Maureen Chiquet. He told WWD he felt it was a good time to retire, following his 66th birthday on Sept. 23, 2004. At that time, Kopelman became vice chairman for another four years.
In an interview in 2004, Kopelman described what he loved about the job and how it encompassed all the things he enjoyed doing.
“This was the first time in my life when everything came together. It was all the things I looked to do. It was advertising, it was merchandising, it was retailing, it was running a business. And I loved fashion from a distance — I was one of those rare husbands who didn’t mind when his wife asked him to come and look at two dresses and help her make a decision,” said Kopelman, who was married to Coco Kopelman. The two appeared frequently together at charity events.
He said that Chanel had been quite a different place when he joined the company in 1985. At that time, the firm was just beginning to open its own stores and Karl Lagerfeld had been designing the ready-to-wear collection for only a few years. The mindset among many of the long-term Chanel employees he encountered was that the house’s fashion was on a pedestal and shouldn’t be advertised at all, or not in the same way that fragrance was promoted.
Kopelman was credited with forging strong relationships with retailers and magazine publishers and keeping Chanel in high standing as one of the world’s great brand names, protecting its sophisticated appeal and broadening the product range, with categories such as jewelry and watches, all without taking its products on a promotional path, even in difficult times. He was also credited with leading a careful retail expansion in the U.S. and being very selective and patient in choosing the right locations for new stores.
Michael Gould, former chief executive officer of Bloomingdale’s, said Tuesday, “Arie really understood brand positioning and he was an incredible brand person. Every time you would see Arie, there was a quick wit and a little needle. The last time I spoke with him was two weeks ago on his birthday.”
Gould goes back a long time with Kopelman as their parents were friends in Brookline, Mass.
“As much as the business was his focus, in my viewpoint, he was more focused and more passionate about the family than even the business,” said Gould.
“We lived directly across the street from one another [in New York], and he always accused me of peeking out the window at his bedroom,” said Gould.
“I always accused Arie of being a frustrated comedian. He always wanted to be on Broadway or in Hollywood or ‘Comedy Central.’ He always had this upbeat way about him. Everything was always a joke but never foolhardy. I once said to him, ‘I think you want to be a tall Jackie Mason.’ Even though he was a very serious businessperson, he had this way of needling and was always the life of the party,” said Gould.
Burt Tansky, former chief executive officer of The Neiman Marcus Group, said, “I worked very closely with Arie to build the Chanel business at both Saks and at Neiman’s. I found him to be a very good businessman and very loyal to his company. He had a very good sense of humor.”
Tansky said that Kopelman was very focused on Chanel having the right positioning. While they had their moments, Tansky said, “Generally we ended up with a good mutual agreement. I gave, he gave, I gave, I gave, he gave, I gave. I gave more than he gave. That was the Chanel way.”
Barbara Cirkva, former Chanel division president for fashion, watches and fine jewelry for the U.S. and Guam, said, “I’m still in shock. Arie and I spent over 25 years partnering on new projects and ideas. Yes, there were many fun times thanks to Arie, and a few tears as well.
“We traveled very often to visit the Chanel stores and most importantly for Arie, to meet the team and get to know them and hear their ideas about the future. Rarely did I leave the plane with my mascara in place from laughing so hard,” said Cirkva.
“I emailed him a few weeks ago to ask his advice regarding my husband’s medical issues and the phone rang within five minutes of sending the email. He had ideas of different doctors we should be talking to. He never mentioned his own medical issues. He was so generous. I will miss him so much. There was no one like him,” said Cirkva.
In an interview when he stepped down, Kopelman recalled Chanel’s expansion in the U.S., at the time with 16 of its own stores and eight fine jewelry boutiques and more than 90 retail accounts; the introduction of the fragrance Coco Mademoiselle, and the 20-month-long negotiation to lure Nicole Kidman as the new face of Chanel No.5 for a Baz Luhrmann-directed commercial.
Jean Hoehn Zimmerman, former executive vice president, beauty and fragrance at Chanel U.S., said, “Arie was my boss, mentor and guru for over 20 amazing years at Chanel. We worked so closely and were always on the same page about what was needed to be done for the U.S. company. He was a doer and a facilitator for his team, as well as a visionary. He made so many important inroads, not just for the business of beauty and fashion, but also for employees internally. He was loved and respected by everyone he came in contact with. I will miss him tremendously.”
In a WWD story in 2004, Kopelman told WWD, “The interesting thing for me was that I felt I could play a role in taking Karl’s raw talent and helping market the product. If you have the right product, you can have a very good business, but if you have the right product backed by the right marketing, you can have a great business.”
Throughout his life, Kopelman was involved in numerous charities and nonprofit organizations. In January 1989, he was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. He served on the Board of Overseers for Columbia Business School, and on the boards of the St. Bernard’s School for Boys in New York, the Municipal Arts Society, and East Side Settlement House. He also served as chairman of the Winter Antiques Show. Kopelman was also the president of the Nantucket Historical Association, and a founding board member of the Upper East Side Historic District. He also served on the board of the New York City Ballet, while his wife, Coco serves on the board of the School of American Ballet, which she attended as a child. Both Arie and Coco Kopelman were part of a donation group that gave a studio at SAB in addition to the recent Pointe Shoe Fund in her name.
His earlier aviation hobby abruptly ended when he met Coco. “I gave it up as a condition of marriage. My wife can’t stand small planes,” said Kopelman in a 2013 WWD story.
John Hays, deputy chairman emeritus at Christie’s, said Tuesday, “It’s a big loss for the art world.” While Kopelman was well known in the fashion world for running Chanel, Hays said that he also had an immense interest in art, specifically the field of American decorative art. “He was an enthusiastic follower of American art. He loved Nantucket, which for me is a gateway into the history of America. He gave it a sense of style and importance, and his enthusiasm was so infectious. He and Coco were quite a couple.”
Hays said Kopelman ran the Winter Antiques Show “like a board meeting at Chanel.”
In 2022, Kopelman was honored at the Look Good Feel Better Beauty Cares DreamBall. Upon receiving the Legacy Award, he regaled the crowd with tales of his tattoo (“one and done,” he said), his golf game (“I’m a lousy golfer”), and the importance of joy. “The harder you work, the luckier you get, because you put yourself in a situation where you are out there looking at opportunity,” said Kopelman.
Will Kopelman, Kopelman’s son, said Tuesday, “I am often stopped on the street by people who used to work with my dad, and they will go out of their way to tell me how much they loved being in meetings with him, or how he’d always be armed with a joke or a story, or imitation, bringing a certain anomalous levity to their professional lives. And that’s what my dad leaves behind: not just his accomplishments in both the worlds of advertising and fashion — of which there are many — but the indelible impression he made on people.”
Kopelman’s daughter Jill Kargman added, “I meet so many people who had encountered my dad in his career at Chanel, and the resounding pattern — beyond his marketing genius — was how hilarious and kind he was. In a world with a lot of phonies, he had heart; he remembered your name, greeted you with warmth, and most importantly, knew that the glamour of his industry was worthless if you didn’t have the balance of a loving family and circle of real friends.”
Kopelman is survived by his wife, Coco, daughter Jill Kargman and son-in-law, Harry Kargman; son Will Kopelman and daughter-in-law, Alexandra Michler and six grandchildren. Kopelman’s fraternal twin brother, David, a judge, died in 2022, and his younger brother, Robert, died of lung cancer in 1999.
A private family service is planned and a memorial service will be scheduled at a later date.
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