Joyce Lowenstein

LOWENSTEIN, Joyce

Joyce Lowenstein, 96, longtime Atlanta interior designer and antiques dealer, passed away Monday, September 12.

Joyce was born in Miami, FL in the midst of a hurricane on April 25, 1926 and became known as Hurricane Joyce, which fit her dynamic personality. After design school, she began her career in New York in the 1950s designing accessories for Bergdorf-Goodman department store, and designed model apartments in New York City. In the 1960s, she started traveling to Europe to buy antiques and opened a shop on Long Island, while also doing interior design projects for individual clients.

She moved to Atlanta with her public relations executive husband, Larry Lowenstein, in 1974, and began a decades-long love affair with Atlanta. She was the home furnishings coordinator and accessory buyer for Macy's department store, then once again became a freelance interior designer and antiques dealer, bringing in containers of traditional French, English, Belgian and Italian antiques to the Ainsworth-Noah showroom at the Atlanta Decorative Arts Center. Her love of the Decorative Arts Period caused her to additionally open a small shop specializing in Art Deco and Art Nouveau on Miami Circle. She also had a booth at the 14th Street Market, and booths each year at the New York Pier Show and the Miami Beach Antique Show.

Always curious and with a deep love of learning, in her 80s Joyce decided to fulfill her dream of finishing her university degree at Georgia State after dropping out of college during World War II. She graduated with honors at age 93 with the treasured degree in art history, the oldest graduate at GSU.

Joyce was preceded in death by husband, Larry. She is survived by daughters, Penny Siskin of Great Neck, NY and Patsy (Herschel) Arnow of Jerusalem, Israel; stepdaughters, Caryl Komornik of Stamford, CT and Barbara Dubois of Boulder, CO; eight grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.