Valerie Justin of Sag Harbor Dies January 7

Valerie Justin died on January 7 in her Sag Harbor home, in the company of family and friends. She was 97.

She was a familiar figure to residents of the village, where she was active in preservation and cultural activities. Throughout her life, she drew energy from lifelong learning and growing, taking interest in the performing arts, the written word, and the visual arts.

She was born in New London, Connecticut, on March 12, 1925, to Lieberman and Ida (née Miller) Sharaf. She attended the University of Connecticut at Storrs, graduating in 1946 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from the College of Arts and Sciences. During those years, she assisted the war effort as a welder working on submarines at the Electric Boat Company in Groton.

After graduation, she moved to New York, where she studied film under Leo Hurwitz. She began to work in the motion picture and television industries, which is where she met her future husband, George Justin. They married in 1955, and their daughter Andrea was born in 1959.

Her interest in the woven rugs and other textiles of indigenous cultures led her to co-found The Pillowry in 1971. The Madison Avenue shop sold products that introduced the U.S. market to flatwoven rugs from Iran, the Caucasus and other Eastern Mediterranean cultures. She and the business both moved to Los Angeles in the 1970s, where she spent the next two decades. She traveled widely to places where she could study the textile craftspeople of the region and acquire samples to bring back to the United States. She began operating as Vanishing Textiles. The name reflected her focus on the preservation and archiving of woven items and the methods by which they were produced.

While providing rugs for interior design and for use on movie sets, she also found time to author a book, “Flat-woven Rugs Of The World,” and to contribute to the international rug and weaving community. She was an active member of the Haji Baba Club, the oldest organization in America devoted to the study of oriental carpets and antique textiles.

She and her husband settled in Sag Harbor in the 1990s after lovingly restoring a 19th century home. She remained engaged in the world of rugs, participating in trade meetings and operating her retail business over the internet. She mastered Adobe Dreamweaver at the age of 85 so that she could manage her own website. When she began to scale back the business, she made a generous donation from her collection to the Gregg Museum of Art + Design at North Carolina State University.

She continued her practice of yoga into her mid-90s and was a dedicated walker. She was often seen on the streets and beaches of Sag Harbor and neighboring communities. She was an advocate for preservation of the village’s unique character, and was never afraid to stand up to authority.

She was predeceased by her husband George; their daughter Andrea; as well as her three sisters, Frances Norman, Edyth Cogley, and Joan Felleman. She is survived by her niece Susan Felleman; and by her nephews John and David Felleman; along with numerous cousins, great-nephews and great-nieces. She will be missed.

Her family asks that donations be made to Doctors Without Borders (donate.doctorswithoutborders.org).