12 Facts About Judith Leiber

Judith Leiber was sent to King's College London in 1938 by her family to study chemistry for the cosmetics industry, in part since her father thought she would be safer in London in the case of a war.

Judith Leiber returned to Hungary before World War II, where thanks to family connections she obtained a traineeship at a handbag company, where she learned to cut and mold leather, make patterns, frame and stitch bags.

Judith Leiber was the first woman graduated to master craftswoman, becoming the first woman to join the Hungarian Handbag Guild in Budapest.

Judith Leiber avoided Nazi persecution when she escaped the Holocaust of World War II to the safety of a house set aside for Swiss citizens, when her father, a Hungarian Jew who managed the grain department of a bank, was able to obtain a Swiss schutzpass, a document that gave the bearer safe passage.

The flat where Judith Leiber survived the war housed 26 people.

In 1946, she married Gerson Judith Leiber, who was a sergeant in the United States Army serving in Eastern Europe.

Judith Leiber was an abstract expressionist painter, member of the National Academy of Design, with some of his works displayed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Museum, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, and other institutions.

Judith Leiber is known for her crystal minaudieres, evening purses made of a metal shell often encrusted with Swarovski crystals, plated with silver or gold and with various forms, such as baby pigs, slices of watermelon, cupcakes, peacocks, penguins, and snakes.

In 1992, Judith Leiber received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.

In 1994, Judith Leiber received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of Fashion Designers.

The Judith Leiber boutiques are exclusive as there are only four in the world.

Judith Leiber died at her home in Springs, New York, on April 28,2018, just a few hours after her husband Gerson Judith Leiber had died.