Ward Landrigan, chairman of heritage jewelers Verdura and Belperron, died this week at age 84.

Born Edward John Landrigan III on Aug. 7, 1941, in Newark, N.J., Landrigan’s life was a journey from humble beginnings to becoming an influential figure in the fine jewelry world who mingled with everyone from royalty to socialites, billionaires to celebrities. But he remained down to earth, and had the ability to remember people he met only briefly years before — and to greet them like a long-lost friend.

As a Boy Scout, he interned with a local jeweler, an experience that first awakened his passion for gemstones. Decades later, this curiosity would propel him to launching his career as a junior staffer at Parke-Bernet, which was later acquired by Sotheby’s.

By the age of 24, after what he

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