Foundation founder, singer, musician Janet D'Addario dies at 72

Janet D’Addario’s priorities were clear: music, faith, family — and helping as many people as she could.

This Westbury native succeeded with all of those.

Even now, her husband, Jim D'Addario, the chairman and chief innovation officer of D'Addario & Co., is a little bemused and a bit stunned by the cascade of memories and gratitude emailed by thousands of friends, workers and strangers from around the world.

Janet D'Addario died of gall bladder cancer on June 14 at age 72.

Although many of the messages are too personal to quote, Jim D'Addario said, in general, the senders revealed how Janet helped them turn their lives around when they were struggling with spouses, careers or children.

"She just had such a huge heart, she helped so many more people — I didn’t realize," her husband said by telephone. He met the songstress who became his wife five decades ago.

He added, "Sometimes, it was just a little, tiny bit of advice, of just listening to their problem, and thinking about it, and getting back to them, ‘Why don’t you try this or that?’ "

Even some of her simplest, most spontaneous efforts mattered; for instance, a youngster just starting out in the work world recalled her coaching him to shake hands with confidence.

"He said, ‘Every time I shake hands, I think of what she told me,’ " her husband said.

Partly inspired by a nun who worked with women serving sentences for nonviolent crimes, Janet D'Addario persuaded former Gov. George Pataki to pardon a few — while also helping raise millions of dollars to help many more women and their children secure their futures.

Right from the start, the eponymous firm the couple founded in 1973 held concerts for up-and-coming classical guitarists in New York City, company officials say. The Farmingdale-based family-owned manufacturer now supplies musicians with all manner of accessories in over 130 countries, from guitar strings to drumsticks and other gear.

The couple also started a music nonprofit. Now, their D’Addario Foundation funds concerts and music education in 47 states and 57 countries.

"Janet was a creative vision and a generous soul," the foundation's executive director, Suzanne D'Addario Brouder, said in a statement. "She had an uncanny ability to 'show up' and recognize when you needed extra care or simply to be heard. She had a beautiful smile that emitted peace, love and understanding and was a constant positive loving force in my life."

Among many other programs she supported, Janet D'Addario helped build the D'Addario Residence, 43 transitional apartments in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood for women exiting prison, as part of her philanthropy with the nonprofit Providence House.

"Providence House is, in so many ways, the very embodiment of my wife … when she saw pain, she wanted to ease it. When she saw hunger, she brought food. When she saw homelessness, she provided shelter. But most importantly when Janet saw someone with no hope, she worked hard to provide them with the tools to restore their will to overcome the challenges they were facing," Jim D'Addario said in a statement.

Janet D'Addario served on the board of Providence House for 21 years and as its president from 2004-2019. She also was a board member for 11 years of Long Island Cares, the nonprofit created by the late musician Harry Chapin to feed Long Island’s hungry, and supported numerous Catholic charities both around the world and at home, including the Catholic Health Services of Long Island and her parish, St. Brigid Catholic Church in Westbury.

Born on Dec. 10, 1948, Janet D'Addario attended St. Brigid/Our Lady of Hope Regional School in Westbury and graduated from St. Dominic High School in Oyster Bay.

She and her future husband met at an Oyster Bay concert in 1966; Janet was the lead singer of a folk group, and Jim played with a rock and roll band, though not that night.

"We met basically through music, and then we began playing together, all through high school and college," her husband said. Music remained essential to them both, even as their company grew, with Janet, relying on her talent, and the art classes she took at Nassau Community College, to design the marketing and advertising with Jim.

"She loved getting up, playing and singing, she had a tremendous voice and could play the guitar very well," her husband said, adding his wife also counted painting and entertaining with home-cooked meals among her favorite pastimes.

In addition to her husband, D'Addario is survived by their children Julie of Cold Spring Harbor, Amy of Brooklyn and Robert of Old Westbury; and eight grandchildren.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Tuesday at St. Brigid Catholic Church.