Cinerama Jewelry CEO Ralph Rafaelian Passes
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
The founder of Cinerama Jewelry died this week. Ralph Rafaelian's company became the launching pad to his daughter's Alex and Ani, Inc. Most recently, Alex and Ani pledged $1 million to Bryant University to honor the senior Rafaelian's business legacy and vision.
Giovanni Feroce, CEO of Alex and Ani, today issued the following statement:
It is with profound sadness that I announce the passing of a great man, Ralph Rafaelian. He passed peacefully surrounded by his family. On behalf of all the employees of Alex and Ani, we express our deepest sympathies to his wife Lucy and his five children, and numerous grandchildren. There is no doubt that his daughter, our owner, Designer Carolyn Rafaelian, and our company Alex and Ani, Inc. will forever acknowledge its creative and manufacturing lineage directly to Ralph and his factory, Cinerama Jewelry.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTA generation ago, in the full flower of his youth, Ralph Rafaelian began a business, Cinerama Jewelry, which matured with him into a successful business and a source of employment and financial security for many Rhode Islanders. He taught his children, by example, that hard work is a virtue, that generosity is strength, and that dedication not to self-interest, but rather to the best interests of others, is the wisest of life choices.
There can be no finer testament to a parent’s virtue, strength, and wisdom than the ways in which those qualities are manifested in his or her children. Carolyn and her sister, Rebecca Rafaelian Caruolo (owner of Cinerama), inherited so much from their father. The more familiar I became with Ralph, the more I saw of him reflected in Carolyn. Her spirituality and her unwavering commitment to bringing the medium and the message of positive energy to the world are reflections of her lineage; the same for Rebecca’s dedication to hard work and attention to detail. Carolyn teaches us that positive energy is eternal. And since the ultimate expression of positive energy is the human soul, I accept as a matter of faith that Ralph Rafaelian endures – not just as a historical figure or an abstraction of memory, but as eternal spirit, in a place as distant as the stars, and as close as his family.
According to his wishes, services were held privately.
