Janet D’Addario, co-founder of legendary gear company D’Addario, has died at 72 after battling gallbladder cancer.

After meeting Jim D’Addario in 1966, the husband-and-wife team went on to perform music together and create the D’Addario company in 1973. Best known for their guitar and bass strings, D’Addario has strung countless artists’ fretboards while developing strings for orchestral instruments, reeds and mouthpieces for woodwind instruments, snare wires for drums and more.

Janet D’Addario designed the company’s initial advertising and packaging design before becoming the Head of Artist Relations and co-founding the D’Addario Foundation, which provides music education to underprivileged children. Janet was also deeply involved with Providence House, a charity that provides transitional housing for homeless women and children.

“Providence House is, in so many ways, the very embodiment of my wife… when she saw pain, she wanted to ease it,” Jim D’Addario said. “When she saw hunger, she brought food. When she saw homelessness, she provided shelter. But most importantly when Janet saw someone with no hope, she worked hard to provide them with the tools to restore their will to overcome the challenges they were facing.”

Loudwire would like to send our deepest condolences to the D’Addario family. Donations can be made to Providence House in memory of Janet D’Addario.

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