At age 11, the Rockford native sent letters to parents in her neighborhood inviting their children to an after-school workshop in the basement of her home, where she tutored the kids in reading, spelling and math at a cost of 25 cents per child.
"To her surprise, as well as her parents', she had some 10 kids sign up immediately," said her companion of more than 25 years, Peter Vermeil. "The workshop, a wonderful success, was her first but certainly not her last entrepreneurial endeavor."
Ms. Briggs, 58, of Burr Ridge, owner and founder of MGB and Associates in Burr Ridge, died of cancer Friday, May 13, in her home.
One of four children, Ms. Briggs spent part of her childhood in Rockford before moving with her family to Clarendon Hills. After graduating from Hinsdale Central High School, she received a bachelor's degree in 1968 from Western Illinois University in speech and language therapy.
In the early 1970s, Ms. Briggs taught for a few years in the Savanna, Mt. Carroll and Hanover Elementary School Districts in Illinois. She also helped establish a special-education language-development program in Tazewell-Mason County.
"Teaching came naturally to her and it later became one of her greatest assets in the business world," Vermeil said.
In 1974, Ms. Briggs began a long career in fashion merchandising, beginning as director of fashion merchandise for Bergner's department store in Peoria. She then joined retail giant May Co., where she worked for five years as vice president of G. Fox department store in Hartford, Conn.
From 1986 to 1989, Ms. Briggs served as director of fashion merchandise for women's and children's clothing and new business development for Spiegel in Oak Brook. She later worked in the Hoffman Estates-based corporate headquarters of Sears, where she was the national director of product development, fashion merchandising, public relations and new business development, from 1989 to 1993.
After leaving Sears, Ms. Briggs was an executive vice president of Perry Ellis International.
In the early 1990s, Ms. Briggs started her own company, European Direct Marketing, a direct mail and catalog business, serving as a logistic expediter and operations partner for many European companies. In 1995, she became the founder and president of MGB and Associates, a business planning and development company.
Survivors include a brother, Jason Murray; two sisters, Lynne and Karlette Murray; and several nieces and nephews.
Courtesy-Chicago Tribune
