Mary Jane was a founding member of r.o.i. Design. She joined the Designers Workshop team on 8/30/1993 and survived the transition from Designers Workshop to r.o.i. Design in 1994. Since then she has been a key player in all that r.o.i. Design accomplished and in her 26 years, she probably touched over 800 projects. Her imprint on r.o.i. Design is permanent, who we are, what we value, how we behave, and our plan for the future has been influenced by MJ.

r.o.i. Design is a team and Mary Jane had a particular role on our team. She often was the one to bridge the psychological gaps between us but cared for each of us from where she sat. She was patient but when needed, emphatic, and direct. She reminded us to have fun, and always advocated for things that would bring out our best. She loved her vacations and many of her passwords where vacation related.

Mary Jane was admired and respected by customers, sales representatives, architects, and designers. She would sell projects, manage projects, design projects, and furnish projects. We would laugh at how long she had been with r.o.i. Design, and she would say, “but no two years have been the same! I didn’t need to change my job to have a different job.”

She loved new materials and challenged us all the time to consider doing more, trying something new. There are situations in a project where we say, “What would Mary Jane do?”, or “Where is Mary Jane on this one?”

She is greatly missed and irreplaceable at r.o.i. Design and in our hearts.