The Stanley Paul-Raelene Mittelman Story

This beautiful woman, wearing a Charles James gown, is the mother of Stanley Paul and Raelene Mittelman.

By Megan McKinney

For 28 years, we have known about the Stanley Paul-Raelene Mittelman Scholarship Benefit to raise funds in support of scholarships for fashion design students enrolled in Chicago area colleges. Each year, we have read about the party in advance, received the invitation, possibly attended the event in the beautiful little green club on Delaware Place and then read about the event again and seen the pictures afterward. We might even know that more than $300,000 has been given in scholarships by the funds raised. However, the focus has always been on the honorees, who change every year.

We also know a great deal about orchestra leader and Classic Chicago columnist Stanley Paul, one of the most visible men in Chicago, but almost nothing about Raelene Mittelman.

Raelene Mittelman.

Raelene was Stanley’s beloved late sister, whom he memorializes in this manner because of her lifelong devotion to fashion. She began expressing this love as a little girl by designing clothes for all her dolls. When she was old enough, she enrolled in the Barbizon School in New York, which led to a career as a leading runway model. According to her brother, “She showcased such designers as Jacques Fath, Hattie Carnegie, Mollie Parnis and Claire McCardell.”

Later, she ran two successful boutiques featuring her own custom-designed accessories and jewelry. Yet, always, she was helping young designers pursue their careers. Thus, the scholarship fund Stanley set up in her name—and his—was a natural way for him to keep her memory alive

Student designs displayed in club foyer at this year’s benefit.

Each year, the Stanley Paul-Raelene Mittelman Scholarship Benefit salutes a Chicago individual or couple. This year’s honorees were Marc and Maureen Schulman, whose Eli’s Cheesecake Company, founded by Marc’s father restaurateur Eli Schulman, has become a local institution.

Marc and Maureen Schulman with a very large Eli’s Cheesecake. Honorary committee chairperson Donna La Pietra is at right, wearing an Eli’s T-shirt as a mini-dress.