Page 20 - Irving Collection Part II Chinese Art

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L A C Q U E R • J A D E • B R O N Z E • I N K T H E R V I N G C O L L E C T I O N 髹金飾玉 - 歐雲伉儷珍藏

“ The Irving Collection is the culmination of three decades
of collaboration between themselves and the dealers and

curators who became their friends.”

ANITA CHRISTY FOR ORIENTATIONS MAGAZINE

Mr. Irving rose to the rank of sergeant; at the end of Together with his brother-in-law, Mr. Irving rented a
the war, he returned to America and his wife, who had warehouse in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District and
lovingly sent letters and care packages—complete with distributed frozen foods throughout the New York
Mr. Irving’s favorite Mounds candies—throughout the area. By the late 1950s, Mr. Irving was the sole owner
confict. The couple learned to rely on one another in of the company; under his leadership, Global Frozen
times both prosperous and lean: in the earliest days of Foods swiftly grew into the region’s largest frozen
their marriage, the Irvings earned just enough money to food distributor. “My father was a builder at any level,”
cover their rent, and Mrs. Irving’s mother often provided Ron Irving noted. “Even though his dreams originally
meals to the young couple. It was a stark contrast to were modest, he took control of things.” In later years,
the couple’s eventual achievements. “I don’t want to Herbert Irving would credit his success to “working
sound generous and all that jazz,” Mr. Irving later joked hard and… a little bit of luck,” yet few could deny the
when describing their philanthropy, “but I guess we entrepreneurial vision and confdence that underpinned
were very poor once and we wanted to help.” After a his achievements.
period in Manhattan, the couple settled on Long Island,
where they would raise their three children. From the In the late 1960s, Mr. Irving joined forces with
outset, they were active members of the community fellow food service businessmen John F. Baugh and
of Westbury, where Mr. Irving served as a leader of the Harry Rosenthal to form the Sysco Corporation. It
synagogue and coached little league; Mrs. Irving, for her was, in many ways, the joining of not only a trio of
part, obtained a masters degree in education, taught entrepreneurs, but also their families—a close-knit
high school business courses, and sat on the Westbury circle whose shared values would become integral
board of education and arts council. When the Irvings to Sysco’s success. Throughout the latter decades
moved their family to the town of Old Westbury, Mrs. of the twentieth century, the company evolved into
Irving became an inaugural member of the Jericho the world’s largest distributor of food products, a
Public Library Board, where she served for a quarter commercial feat due in no small part to Mr. Irving’s
century and oversaw the building of a new library. prodigious leadership. He served as vice chairman
of Sysco well into his seventies, overseeing its
In the thriving post-war economy, Mr. Irving saw the impressive expansion across the United States. For
opportunity to set his family on a frm fnancial path. all their success, both Florence and Herbert Irving
“We decided I should go into industry,” he recalled, “… at remained characteristically modest about the triumph
a later date, if I became suficiently afluent, I’d go back that was Sysco, and forever reminded themselves
to teaching. That never happened.” What emerged from of the humble roots from which they came. “In
Mr. Irving’s ambitious vision was Global Frozen Foods, between is a lifetime,” Mrs. Irving explained to the
a New York-based frm that catered to the nation’s Wall Street Journal in 2012. “These things happen little
growing demand for frozen produce and foodstufs. by little.”

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