Kate Spade has died

Fashion designer and Kansas City native Kate Spade was found dead in her Manhattan apartment this morning of an apparent suicide. She was 55. 

Spade attended St. Teresa’s Academy and the University of Kansas before moving to New York City and joining the magazine Mademoiselle. In 1993, she and her husband, Andy Spade, started her eponymous handbag line. It was an enormous success that expanded to include all manner of clothing and accessories. The Spades cashed out of the business gradually, selling 56 percent of the company in 1999 and the remaining 44 percent in 2006. (The company would go on to be acquired by Coach, in 2017, for $2.4 billion.)

In recent years, Spade had started an accessories company called Frances Valentine.

The Times reports Spade was found unresponsive at her Park Avenue apartment, “where she had hanged herself. She had left a note, but the official did not comment on what it said. She was pronounced dead at the scene at 10:26 a.m.” She is survived by her husband and 13-year-old daughter, Frances.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline number is 1-800-273-8255. There is also a Crisis Text Line that offers free, 24-hour support; text HOME to 741-741.