Former Belk Visual Merchandiser Clarence Cecil Bessellieu Jr. Dies at 80

Former Belk Visual Merchandiser Clarence Cecil Bessellieu Jr. Dies at 80
November 04, 2009

Clarence Cecil Bessellieu Jr., formerly of Charlotte, N.C., and Fort Myers, Fla., died Oct. 30, 2009, in Miami following complications of a stroke. He was 80. He was born in Wilmington, N.C., on May 2, 1929, to Clarence Cecil and Mary V. (Long) Bessellieu. Following his Navy service during the Korean War, Cecil began a four-decade long career in visual merchandising. His first job was in merchandise signage and window display with Sears-Roebuck in Richmond, Va., and then with Jackson's Byrons in Miami.

While in Miami, he also designed floats for the Orange Bowl Parade for the Vaughn Displays Co. The Vaughn Displays Co. catalogs and artwork from this period are now a part of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. In 1959, Cecil joined the Belk-Lindsey Group in Orlando, Fla., and then Belk Store Services Corporate Office in Charlotte, where he led interior planning and was later their first director of visual merchandising. Following a 34-year career with Belk, he retired in 1993.

In recognition of his “outstanding ability in exercising the functions of retail visual merchandising and the willingness to enhance the field and art of the profession” the National Retail Merchants Association (NRMA) named him Visual Merchandiser of the Year for 1982. In 1984, he was inducted into the Society for Visual Merchandisers and served as its chairman for many years. And, in 1985, he was inducted into the National Association of Display Industries (NADI) Hall of Fame. After retirement he moved to Fort Myers, where he was a member and Elder of the Lehigh Acres Christian Church, and following the death of his second wife, he founded the Marie Kinzie Bessellieu scholarship at Florida Christian College.

He is survived by his third wife, Maria R. "Nina" Bessellieu, his son Steven D. Bessellieu, daughter-in-law Ana and granddaughter Lindsey of Bryn Mawr, Pa.; his son Thomas L. Bessellieu, daughter-in-law Amy and grandson Graham of Lawrenceville, N.J., and grandson Luke of Ewing, N.J.; his brother Robert B. Bessellieu and his sister-in-law Madelon of Miami; his brother Gerald Bessellieu of Richmond, Va.; his sister Mary Bessellieu Morse of Miami Beach, and daughter by marriage Potyra Rosa of Rio de Janeiro. His father and mother, his first wife June Williams Bessellieu, his second wife Marie Kinzie Bessellieu, his brother Melville P. Bessellieu and his sister Barbara Bessellieu Williams preceded him in death.

Memorial services will be held on Nov. 8 at 2 p.m. at the Lehigh Acres Christian Church in Lehigh Acres, Fla. The family suggests that memorials may be made to the Bessellieu Scholarship Fund at Florida Christian College.