This obituary is part of a series about people who died from the coronavirus pandemic. Read about others here.
Annmarie Reinhart Smith had worked for Toys “R” Us for nearly three decades when the company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2017, which resulted in store closures and layoffs of 33,000 workers, including her. With no severance pay, she remained frustrated on a Facebook page called the Dead Giraffe Society, named after the business’s mascot, Geoffrey the Giraffe.
A labor advocacy group that helped Toys “R” Us employees mobilize to seek compensation such as severance pay and back payments took note of this and recruited them.
Ms. Reinhart Smith was soon on Capitol Hill, prosecuting lawmakers, and meeting with Senator Bernie Sanders and Senator Cory Booker, among others, to seek their assistance. She teamed up with other former employees to march around Manhattan in protest and shoulder a fake coffin on Geoffrey.
“It was the beginning of something we didn’t think would ever mean,” said Maryjane M. Williams, a friend and 20-year-old employee of Toys “R” Us, who joined the protests. She said, ‘What do we have to lose? Let’s go.'”
After months of public pressure campaigning against the private equity owners of Toys “R” Us, a $ 20 million hardship fund was set up for the laid-off workers. Ms. Reinhart Smith also became the lead plaintiff in a bankruptcy court class action lawsuit seeking fair compensation that raised an additional $ 2 million for former employees.
“She was our voice,” said Alison M. Paolillo, who worked with Ms. Reinhart Smith for a decade. “She fought for us.”
Ms. Reinhart Smith died in a Durham, NC hospital on February 17. She was 61 years old. The cause was Covid-19, said her family.
Annmarie Reinhart was born on June 11, 1959 in Levittown, NY, on Long Island. Her mother, Diane Patricia (Switzer) Reinhart, was a housewife who later worked in factory administration. Her father, William Louis Reinhart III, owned a flooring business. She was the oldest of her three children.
She attended Huntington High School and later the Agricultural and Technical College in Farmingdale, now Farmingdale State College. She had two sons, Brandon P. Smith and Jordan J. Smith, with longtime partner, Aaron J. Smith, whom she married in 2011.
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March 6, 2021, 11:15 a.m. ET
She survived her husband and sons with a sister, Carleen P. Reinhart; a brother, William C. Reinhart IV; a half-brother, Kenny Johnson; two stepbrothers, Dean Malazzo and Paul Malazzo; and two grandchildren.
Reinhart Smith joined Toys “R” Us in 1988 as a cashier in Huntington. Over the next 29 years, she worked her way up to a variety of management positions at the chain in both Long Island and Durham, NC, where she and her husband moved in 2016.
A warm woman, proud of her Irish heritage (she had several green shamrocks tattooed on her right ankle), Mrs. Reinhart Smith watched children grow up year after year when they came into her shops. She also caught up with Ornery clients when she submitted an updated profile to The Progressive magazine, like one who had a Power Ranger character cast at her and left a scar on her forehead.
In 2005, private equity firms Bain Capital and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and real estate firm Vornado Realty Trust took control of the company in a leveraged buyout that left it with $ 5 billion in debt.
Terrysa Guerra, the political director of United For Respect, the group that recruited Ms. Reinhart Smith, credited her with helping Bain and KKR create the hardship fund. “People saw her as a leader and a trustworthy voice,” said Ms. Guerra.
On the Dead Giraffe Society’s Facebook page, people who once poked fun at Ms. Reinhart Smith’s seemingly futile struggle thanked her and the other union leaders for winning the payouts, even if a week or more of groceries was enough to pay a monthly rent.
While Ms. Reinhart Smith described the subsequent $ 2 million bankruptcy settlement as a “slap in the face,” the case was viewed as a precedent. Former Shopko and Art Van Furniture employees, both of whom recently filed for bankruptcy protection and closed them down, have since followed a similar playbook in the battle for hardship and severance pay, Ms. Guerra said.
Ms. Reinhart Smith continued to advocate workers – she helped organize workers at other retailers, urged Congress to pass a law called the Stop Wall Street Looting Act that targeted private equity, and advocated a minimum wage of 15 USD a.
“If she believed people were going to enter, she would just show up and be the spokesman, whether that person wanted it or not,” said Mr. Smith, her husband. “She was just that kind of person.”
She continued to work in retail, most recently at a Belk department store in Durham. Belk, who was also heavily burdened with debt following a leveraged buyout, filed for bankruptcy protection in February but quickly resurfaced after a financial restructuring.
