Name: Stuart A. Weitzman
Company: Stuart Weitzman

Stuart A. Weitzman (born in 1942; wife, Jane Weitzman) is the designer of the international, high-end shoe company, Stuart Weitzman.

Stuart Weitzman's trademark use of unique materials (e.g., cork, vinyl, lucite, wallpaper, and 24-carat gold), and his attention to detail, garnered him and his company a global following. His shoes are sold in 45 countries.

Weitzman's father, Seymour Weitzman, started a shoe factory in Haverhill, Massachusetts, in the late 1950s, "Seymour Shoes" (also sold under the label: "Mr. Seymour"). Weitzman began designing shoes for his father's business in the early 1960s, when he was in his 20s.

Weitzman graduated George W. Hewlett High School in 1958, and the Wharton School of Business in 1963. When Seymour Weitzman died in 1965, Stuart took over the business with his older brother, Warren Weitzman. They sold the business to a company in Spain in 1972, but Stuart continued to design shoes for the company. In 1994, he bought back the business, but continues to manufacture his shoe designs in Elda, Spain.

Since 2002, Weitzman has provided one-of-a-kind, "million dollar" shoes to an Oscar nominee to wear at the Oscars. For the 2007 Oscar ceremony, shoes were designed for and provided to Diablo Cody, who subsequently declined to wear them, stating that she was not aware of nor interested in the publicity attendent with wearing the shoes.

Website: www.stuartweitzman.com