Polish-Born Founder of Olga Lingerie Dies at 72

Jan Erteszek, a Polish immigrant who with his wife took their last $10, rented a sewing machine, and with it developed the Olga Co. into one of the world’s leading manufacturers of sleepwear, lingerie and daywear, has died of cancer.

He was 72 when he died Friday at St. John’s Medical Center in Santa Monica.

Erteszek, an attorney in his native Poland, came to the United States with his wife, Olga, in 1941. They spoke only a few words of English and were forced to turn to Olga’s trade, lingerie designing. She had been trained as a corsetiere by her mother.

With the $10 they made some garter belt samples which he took to Bullocks Wilshire. That first order provided enough money for them to form the Olga Co., which boasted an annual sales volume of $67 million when it was acquired by Warnaco Inc. in 1984.

The firm currently offers 150 garment designs that are carried in thousands of department stores and specialty shops in the United States and around the world.

The firm has been singled out for its enterprise in sharing profits with employees and is listed among “The 100 Best Companies to Work for in America.”

Erteszek, co-author of “My Job and My Faith,” with his wife, shared the 1985 “California Industrialist of the Year” award from the Museum of Science and Industry.

He is a former chairman of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, director of the Institute for Contemporary Studies, a former governor of Goodwill Industries and a trustee of Whittier College, where he received one of two honorary doctor of laws degrees he held at his death (the other was from Pepperdine University.)

In addition to his wife, he is survived by three daughters and four grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held Wednesday at the Church of the Recessional, Forest Lawn Memorial-Park, Glendale.