Background
Shirley Ritts was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on October 28, 1920.
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Shirley Ritts
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Career
Ritts was the mother of photographer and music video director, Herb Ritts (August 13, 1952 – December 26, 2002). Her father was an ophthalmologist. The Ritts Company benefited from the popularity of rattan furniture during the post-World World War II era.
Herb Ritts acted as the company"s furniture designer, while Shirley was in charge of sales and marketing.
The couple had four children whom they raised in a 27 room Spanish-style house in Brentwood, California. Shirley Ritts assisted with the set design on Elvis Presley"s 1961 film, Blue Hawaii, in which she used rattan furniture and Polynesian design.
Ritts often traveled extensively once her company introduced a line of high-end acrylic furniture. Then remarried him in the 1990s until his death in 2000.
Shirley Ritts died of emphysema at her home in Brentwood, California, on February 24, 2008, at the age of 87.
