DiPersia will fill president's post at ASFD
Gary Evans -- Furniture Today, January 26, 2004
HIGH POINT — HIGH POINT — Furniture designer Jim DiPersia will fill the remaining term of Alan Friedman, president of the American Society of Furniture Designers, who died this month of cancer.
DiPersia then will begin his own two-year term as head of the design association in April 2005.
A member of ASFD since 1996, DiPersia has designed for Excelsior Designs, Weiman, Glober, Johnston Casuals and others, in the United States and abroad. The New York-based designer also has designed custom projects for sports and entertainment personalities.
DiPersia is the recipient of five Pinnacle Awards, presented annually by the ASFD since 1996, and an APEX Award for Design Excellence in 1999.
A memorial service for Friedman, 65, president of Alan Friedman Associates in Seattle, was held Sunday in the Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle.
The family asks that contributions in his memory be made to the ASFD for the David Kline Memorial Scholarship, 144 Woodland Drive, New London, N.C. 28127.
Friedman designed fabric, leather, stationary, motion and occasional furniture for U.S. and international manufacturers. Before establishing Alan Friedman Associates, he was a partner in Warren-Friedman-Williams, specializing in furniture and industrial design.
Friedman was a winner of the 2001 Pinnacle Award for motion upholstery.
"He designed things for the vanishing American middle class," said ASFD member Karl Felperin, who served with Friedman on ASFD committees. "Alan believed the majority of people had good taste and they just wanted good products."
