Law enforcement officials say New York fashion designer Kate Spade has been found dead in her apartment in an apparent suicide. She was 55.
The officials said she was found by housekeeping staff inside her Park Avenue apartment at about 10:20 a.m. Tuesday.
They said she left a note at the scene, but didn’t know what the note said.
The officials were not authorized to divulge details of an ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Spade, a former fashion magazine editor, formed her namesake company in 1993 with her husband Andy, the brother of comedic actor David Spade.
Her sleek but practical handbags were a smash, and she grew her company, Kate Spade New York, into an international brand with retail shops and outlet stores worldwide.
Spade sold the last remaining shares she held in her namesake company in 2006 to focus on her daughter, Frances Beatrix Spade, born the year earlier.
The brand was acquired from the Neiman Marcus Group for $125 million US by the company then known as Liz Claiborne Inc. In 2017, Coach bought the brand for $2.4 billion US.
In 2016, she launched Frances Valentine, a new fashion line named after her daughter.
The designer had changed her name to Katherine Noel Frances Valentine Brosnahan Spade, she told NPR in an interview earlier this year.