By Andrea Valluzzo
PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLA. — Diane Wendy, who once ran a cadre of antiques and design shows in the greater New York City area, died February 18, 2026.
Born in New York City on June 14, 1929, she grew up in the Bronx and began working for antiques show promoter Clifford J. Nuttall in 1954 as a secretary after answering a newspaper ad for a “gal Friday” job for his company, Westchester Enterprises. As he didn’t have enough work for her after a year, he referred her to the respected antiques dealers of Ginsburg and Levy, where she worked as a bookkeeper and assisting clients. She returned to work for Westchester Enterprises in 1959 when her daughter Meg was three and Nuttall’s business had picked up. She quickly became the driving force behind filling the show with dealers for the next nine years and in 1968, Nuttall sold the business to Diane’s husband Calvin, as he wouldn’t sell it to a woman. While Cal was the support behind the scenes, Diane was the dynamo and face of the shows. Under her management, Wendy Management grew and was the oldest continuous management companies in the country.
Teenage sweethearts, Diane and Cal were married in 1951 and wedded for nearly 63 years after meeting when she was 16 at the movies.
Diane Wendy enjoying Florida sunshine in Boca Raton in 2007. Laura Beach photo.
A natural salesperson, Diane was attractive, smart and a sharp dresser so she excelled at promoting antiques shows in some of New York’s most storied locations, from the New York Coliseum and the 34th Street Armory to the Park Avenue Armory on 67th Street. There were also shows in Morristown, N.J.; Stamford and Greenwich, Conn.; and even Boston, Washington, DC, and Chicago. One of Diane’s longest running shows was the White Plains Antique Show, originally known as the Eastern States Antiques Fair, which Nuttall began in 1933. White Plains, along with the Park Avenue Armory Antiques Shows, which the Wendys ran for 30 years, were their flagship events. In its heyday, they promoted 18 events a year.
Meg Wendy took over the company reins around 2003 when Diane began stepping down from the business before officially retiring and moving to Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Meg was quoted in a New York Times article in February 2003 saying, “Originally, we were Americana promoters. In the late 1970s, my mother saw people moving away from collecting and into decorating. ‘They want a look with a price,’ she said, ‘and we need to go with the trend.’” Always staying abreast of changes in the marketplace, Diane and Meg launched the International Art and Antiques Show in 2003 at the Park Avenue Armory, a vetted show with a global aesthetic, and the New York Design Fair before closing the brand circa 2008.
Diane and Cal Wendy were interviewed many times over the years. This photo shows them being interviewed by a Channel 7 reporter (far left) in 1986 at the Javits Center.
Diane was remembered for supporting her dealers and along the way accrued quite a few collections of antiques bought from them. Her shows boosted many dealers’ reputations and quite a few dealers got their start doing Wendy shows.
In a 2007 interview, she said, “We were very good to our dealers. They were our family. We tried to help them and never raised the rent…I had the attitude that I wanted to be successful. It had nothing to do with dollars and cents. It had to do with the position you were in while you were doing it. And I liked working. I wanted the dealers to do well. I knew if they did well, I’d do well.”
