Metro Detroit businesswoman Gretchen Carhartt Valade dies at age 97
Metro Detroit businesswoman, philanthropist and arts patron Gretchen Carhartt Valade died aged 97 on Dec. 30 at her Grosse Pointe Farms home.
Granddaughter of Carhartt, Inc. founder Hamilton Carhartt, Valade served as chairman emeritus for the family-owned workwear company, still family-owned in the Detroit region after 134 years.
She was also known among the regional arts community and beyond as “the angel of jazz” for her long-lasting contributions to Detroit’s arts and culture scene as well as the global jazz community. At age 74, she founded the Mack Avenue Records jazz label, which subsequently earned 11 Grammy Awards and more than 50 nominations. At age 82, she opened the Dirty Dog Jazz Café, an award-winning jazz and dinner club in Grosse Pointe Farms.
"We've lost an angel and the city's greatest champion for jazz," said Rochelle Riley, the city of Detroit's Director of Arts and Culture. "No one worked harder or more elegantly to ensure that Detroit remains a global jazz capital.'
A lifelong Grosse Pointe Farms resident, Valade was born Aug. 27, 1925 and shared a birthdate with her grandfather, Hamilton, whom she called “Big Dad.” The enterprising Hamilton founded Carhartt, Inc. in Detroit in 1889, and the family-owned company remains Michigan-based, headquartered in Dearborn. Valade’s parents were Gretchen S. Stearns and Wylie Carhartt, himself president of Carhartt from 1937 to 1957.
“I was a Carhartt, and that’s what I was supposed to do,” Valade once said of being a part of the company from a young age, according to a Carhartt news release. “My duty as a family member was to contribute to the family business.”
She married Grosse Pointe native Robert C. Valade in 1948; he would eventually serve as Carhartt’s president for four decades while they raised three children. Gretchen Valade remained an active participant and advisor in the business, serving on the board of directors since 1958. Upon her husband’s death in 1998, she took over as chairman of the board. Their son, Mark, currently serves as chairman and CEO of the company.
“My grandfather would’ve been very proud that the company has lasted more than a century — through the good times and the bad,” Valade once said. “He would have loved it.”
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Carhartt, Inc. announced Valade's death Tuesday, saying, “It is with great sadness that we mourn the loss of Gretchen C. Valade. As chairman emeritus of Carhartt and granddaughter of Carhartt’s founder, Hamilton Carhartt, she was an innovator, philanthropist, pioneer and visionary. Known by many as the ‘Angel of Jazz,’ she was a staple in Metro Detroit’s business landscape, the jazz community and, of course, at Carhartt.
“Gretchen will be remembered for positively impacting countless people by establishing a foundation for the arts to keep Detroit's annual jazz festival the largest free festival of its kind in North America. Her legacy will continue to live on through Carhartt, the Detroit Jazz Festival, and her many philanthropic endeavors.”
In late 2022, Wayne State University’s iconic Hilberry Theatre building was shut down to be transformed into the Gretchen C. Valade Jazz Center, a world-class performance hall. Valade made gifts to jazz studies and performance at Wayne State totaling $9.5 million.
“We are all so very grateful to Gretchen Valade for her enormous generosity,” said Wayne State University President M. Roy Wilson. “Gretchen’s gifts expanded Wayne State’s commitment to excellence in the arts and humanities. She will be greatly missed, but her commitment to jazz lives on at Wayne State through the Gretchen C. Valade Jazz Center."
In 2005, when the Detroit Jazz Festival lost its primary sponsor, Valade established a foundation to ensure the festival would remain free of charge for attendees.
“Due to her singular commitment to jazz, Gretchen was dubbed the ‘Angel of Jazz’ by the global jazz community,” said Professor Chris Collins, Wayne State’s inaugural Gretchen Valade Endowed Chair in Jazz and artistic director of the Detroit Jazz Festival. “Her passion, commitment and vision were a legacy in itself.”
The Detroit Jazz Festival Foundation itself also released a statement expressing gratitude and grief:
“With a very heavy heart, we are saddened to announce the passing of Our Angel of Jazz, Gretchen C. Valade. We join the world in mourning her death, and celebrate her lifelong contributions to the Detroit community, specifically her unwavering commitment to the propagation of Detroit’s jazz legacy and the preservation of the Detroit Jazz Festival Foundation and the Detroit Jazz Festival, the world’s largest admission-free jazz festival.
“We will continue to honor Gretchen’s vision and legacy through our mission of jazz for everyone in Detroit and around the world.”
Valade died peacefully and surrounded by family, according to Carhartt’s news release.
She was predeceased by her son Christopher and is survived by her daughter, Gretchen Garth (Stix), her son, Mark Valade (Molly), and her six grandchildren: Byron, Catherine, Damon, Kyle, Gretchen Rose, Cameron as well as her nine great grandchildren. Private services will be held.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Businesswoman Gretchen Carhartt Valade dies at age 97
