Former Luxottica executive Ed Jankowski died Saturday at his home in Pompano Beach, Fla., at the age of 72.

He had battled prostate cancer for the past five years, according to his niece Jamie Jankowski, whom he mentored and is now senior director of design and merchandising at Brahmin USA.

Every day since that diagnosis, Ed Jankowski “fought with a smile on his face” and would advise others, “‘Don’t count the days. Make the days count,’” his niece said Monday. His zeal for that motto was so unwavering that he got his first tattoo with those words on his 72nd birthday in July.

A celebration of life for Jankowski is being planned in Westchester County, N.Y., for December, and another celebration of life will be held in Pompano Beach in January. Per his wishes, a cremation is taking place.

A member of the Accessories Council Hall of Fame, the New York executive worked for several fashion and accessories companies including Luxottica’s Luxury Retail Group, where he was vice president and general manager. In that post, he oversaw Ilori Optical, Optical Shop of Aspen and Persol stores, creating new prototypes and broadening its footprint in the U.S. and Canada. In recent years, Jankowski worked as a consultant. Before that, he served as chief executive officer of XpresSpa, building upon the chain’s airport locations Stateside and in Europe. 

Born in Kingston, N.Y., to an IBM executive and a homemaker, he and his four siblings were raised in Mahopac, N.Y. After attending Rider College in New Jersey, the style-minded Jankowski, whose attire was always pristine, as were his manicures, set out for a career in fashion and accessories. His niece said, “The joke in the family was ‘Uncle Ed only uses Gucci toilet paper.’ That was from the time he was 13.”

A self-starter, Jankowski networked his way into the industry, while maintaining a meticulous eye on the details of fashion, merchandising and stores, his niece said. One of his first jobs was at Liz Claiborne, where he once brought her as a 12-year-old to the company’s “Take Your Daughter to Work Day.” Another one of Jankowski’s early posts was at World Duty Free Americas. During his career, Jankowski also worked at Solstice Sunglass Boutique, a division of Safilo, and Godiva Chocolatier.

A natural connector across different industries, Jankowski knew how to talk to people and understood the art of the schmooze, his niece said. Larger-than-life and kind-hearted, the accessories specialist served on the board of directors for the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising, or LIM College, and was a past advisory board member at the Fashion Institute of Technology — Accessories.

The Accessories Council’s president and CEO Karen Giberson said Jankowski first got involved with the organization, which is more than 30 years old, in its early days. Jankowski tried to quit the council, when he joined Godiva in an executive role. “We said, ‘Ed, you can’t quit,’ and he said, ‘Karen, it’s not a fashion or accessories company.’ We justified that by saying, ‘Look, there’s not a fashionable counter that doesn’t have chocolate at the checkout and Godiva is the perfect merchandise for that,’” Giberson recalled Monday.

“He came back to me a couple of days later and said, ‘OK, chocolate is an accessory that we wear on our hips,’” she said. “That was Ed. He was always making you laugh. When a mutual friend was being honored at an event, he was the one leading the cheer. He stood up and got the whole room chanting. He was the party leader.” 

Once the New York celebration of life is held, Tito’s drinks will “definitely be served” to guests, since Jankowski was such a fan that the liquor company sponsored a party in his honor in 2015, Giberson said.

Jankowski, whose first marriage ended in divorce, married his husband Patrick Van Den Berg in 2002. Predeceased by his brother Ron, Jankowski is survived by his husband, his sister Mary Pfiel and brothers James and Frederick, as well as two grandsons and other relatives.