Furniture Designer Charles Pollock Dies in Fire

Charles Pollock, designer of the famous Pollock Executive Chair that became ubiquitous in offices in the mid-20th century, died Tuesday morning in a fire at his Queens home. He was 83.

Pollock, raised in Michigan, came to New York to attend the Pratt Institute. He introduced his chair in 1963. Set on wheels, the chair was visually distinctive with tufted upholstery and an aluminum band around its edges. It’s still in production.

But in the decades that followed, Pollock moved away from furniture design. He returned to it recently. After being sought out by Jerry Helling of Bernhardt Design, Pollock created a lounge chair that was introduced last year. His visibly shaken partner at Charles Pollock Design, Connie Smith, said that he was working on a new chair design when he died.

“We were still working on furniture today. He has paintings hanging that he just completed last week. His ideas went on and on. He’s a wonderful designer,” Smith said. “The Pollock Executive Chair is probably the best selling chair in the history of furniture design.”

This article appeared in print on page 16 of the August 21st, 2013 edition of Hamodia.