Roslyn M. Sailor, 80, ran Phila. boutique

Roslyn Malis Sailor, 80, a jewelry designer and art dealer who operated a swanky Center City boutique for 22 years, died of a heart attack July 7 at home in Miami, Fla.

In 1957, Mrs. Sailor and her husband, Alexander, a jeweler, opened Roslyn Sailor, a women's clothing and jewelry shop on Walnut Street.

"They were a dynamic duo with great taste," their son Joshua said. Mrs. Sailor sketched designs for pins, necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. Her husband then fashioned the pieces from gold, silver and gem stones for Rittenhouse Square matrons and jet-setters. The couple created custom jewelry for celebrity clients, including Lucille Ball and singer Donna Summer, and made a malachite and gold desk set for President Richard Nixon.

The shop sold bikinis and European imports 20 years before other stores, Alexander Sailor said in a 1979 interview. "We're avant garde," he said. "We were the first boutique in America. We stopped calling ourselves a boutique when everyone else started."

In the late 1950s, the Sailors also established a shop in Palm Beach. Mrs. Sailor's mother, Betty Malis, managed the Philadelphia store when the Sailors were in Florida.

In 1979, the couple closed both stores and attempted retirement in Miami for several years. They got bored, their son said, and in 1986 they opened Roslyn Sailor Fine Arts Gallery in Margate, N.J.

After her husband died in 1994, Mrs. Sailor operated the gallery until 2006. She continued to sell paintings, sculpture, prints, and art objects from a Website.

Mrs. Sailor grew up in Strawberry Mansion. She graduated from West Philadelphia High School and studied art at Temple University.

She and her husband married in 1954. They met in an electronics store where she was working and he was a customer. She shared his passion for sailing, their son said, and they were "madly in love with each other."

In addition to her son Joshua, Mrs. Sailor is survived by sons Adam and Matthew and seven grandchildren.

Services were private.