Miles Cahn (April 18, 1921 – February 10, 2017) was an American businessman and designer who co-founded the Coach Leatherware Company, now known as Coach, Inc., with his wife, Lillian Cahn, in 1961. The Cahns founded the luxury fashion company, now known for its handbags, when they purchased a ting mall wallet manufacturer, then located in West 34th Street in Manhattan, and renamed it Coach. Under the guidance of Lillian and Miles Cahn, Coach was among the first to introduce lines of purses and handbags that were both fashionable and practical. Biography Cahn was born on April 18, 1921, in New York City to Russian Jewish immigrant parents, Jacob and Fanny Cahn. His parents were refugees who had fled from Russia to the United States to escape the Russian Revolution. He enrolled at the City College of New York, but left to serve in the United States Army's 78th Infantry Division during World War II. Cahn returned to the City College of New York after the war and received his degree in business administration. In 1947, he married Lillian Lenovitz; the couple had met in New York City. The company that would become Coach started as a small men's wallet manufacturer known as Gail Leather Products (also called Gail Novelty Co.), located in a loft in Manhattan in 1941. Miles Cahn's father was one of four investors who had each invested $1,000 dollars in 1941 to help start the company. In 1946, Miles Cahn joined Gail Leather for $50 a week. Miles and Lillian Cahn also owned and operated a separate leather manufacturing company. In 1961, the Cahns purchased the Gail Leather Products, then located on West 34th Street, through a leveraged buyout of the former owners. They renamed their store and factory the Coach Leatherware Company (now known as Coach, Inc.). It was Lillian Cahn who suggested adding women's handbags to the Coach product line utilizing the same supple, flexible cowhide inspired by the material used in baseball gloves. Miles Cahn initially resisted his wife's idea, but relented, remembering in a 2013 interview, "I scoffed at first...In New York, there were a lot of handbag companies, and at that time, stores were all buying knockoffs of bags made in Europe. But my wife prevailed." The new handbags proved to be Coach's most popular, long-term products. Lillian Cahn designed the first Coach handbag, a shopping bag purse, which she based