Founder of the Jonell Shoe Manufacturing Co. in Lawrence, MA, USA, Harrison Gass passed away on August 29 at the age of 91.

In the 1950s, Mr Gass created a line called ‘Styled by DiGassio’ to compete directly with Italian-made footwear which was becoming popular with American women at the time.

He later sold the company, which produced inexpensive women’s footwear,  to the Morse Shoe Co., a manufacturer and retailer of women’s footwear. He joined Morse where he held the position of vice president of manufacturing for the nine Morse shoe factories until his retirement in 1982.