Charlotte jeweler’s heart and mind — plus his charisma — raised millions for charity

Longtime Charlotte jeweler Ernest Perry spent decades in the business, but was perhaps better known for his auctioneering skills that raised millions for charity.

He died on July 22, according to Perry’s Diamonds and Estate Jewelry. He was 78.

Crowned the king of the city’s charity auction circuit by The Charlotte Observer in a 2007 profile, he sold it all: vacations, a basketball signed by NBA legends such as Michael Jordan and even a vasectomy.

His family estimates that he raised at least $55 million for groups like the Allegro Foundation, Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the Patriot Military Family Foundation and the Make-A-Wish Foundation, during more than four decades as an auctioneer.

At auctions he was known for his charisma and genuine nature.

“He did not play golf or have any hobbies,” said Priscilla Perry, his wife and the family business’ co-founder. “His hobby was to do charity auctions.”

“There’s an adrenaline rush and a real sense of satisfaction when I feel I’ve gotten every penny out of a crowd that I can possibly get,” he told The Observer in 2007.

A Charlotte staple

Perry was born in Wilmington but moved to Charlotte as a young boy, his wife said.

After four years in the Army, stationed in Germany, he sold used cars uptown — for about a week. The work was too crooked for him, his wife said.

“The best thing that you have in this industry is your word,” he often told his daughter, Hadley Perry Pacheco.

He scratched his salesmanship itch in other ways. In 1976 he took a job managing The Jewel Box’s SouthPark Mall location. He met Priscilla while working there, and two years later, they married and started their own company: Perry’s Jewelry Emporium.

“We quit our jobs and decided to go off with this harebrained idea of going around to charities and encouraging them to have an event where ladies could bring in their old jewelry that they didn’t want, or (when) there was one earring and the other was missing — we weren’t going to throw it away if it was gold,” Priscilla Perry said.

They kicked off their fundraising idea with the Assistance League of Charlotte. It caught on.

The Perrys would liquidate the jewelry, give a tax write-off or receipt and donate 60% of the money.

In 1981 they opened a retail store in SouthPark Mall and started buying directly from the public.

Around that time, Perry went to auctioneer school in High Point, got certified and found use for it at countless galas. His family estimated that he served as an auctioneer for hundreds of events.

He’d often team up with his close friend, longtime WCNC weatherman Larry Sprinkle. The two met in the 1970s, when Perry was advertising The Jewel Box on radio. Sprinkle realized that Perry’s baritone voice, slight twang and knack for explaining jewelry meant that he could sell it better than Sprinkle himself. He brought him on.

“He was just very sincere, honest, exuberant,” Sprinkle said of their days auctioneering together. “Not a hype guy.”

“He reaffirmed, ‘Hey, this money we’re trying to raise has a great benefit and it goes to a great organization. This helps these children. Think of it that way, that you’re making a contribution but also receiving something pretty darn good at the same time,’” Sprinkle said.

Daniel Coston, a freelance photographer whose work has been published in The Observer, met Perry at a charity event around the turn of the century, and captured him in his element. The two became friends, and went on to work together.

“Going once. Going twice. Two-and-a-half!” Perry would say as he raised and then stomped down his foot. It’s an image that stuck with Coston.

“It’s stunning to think that I won’t see him this fall as the event season picks up again,” he said.

Perry sold Allegro Foundation founder and president Pat Farmer on the idea of a live auction to raise money for children with disabilities.

“What can we do?” she remembered him asking about the group’s cause. “How can we make this better?”

The live auction became a tradition.

Perry was quick to remind buyers that they weren’t there for a good deal, friends and family told The Observer.

“This is why we’re here,” he’d say of a child who’d benefit from the money, Farmer said.

Family business

Today Perry’s Diamonds and Estate Jewelry is on Carnegie Boulevard. It’s still a family business. Daughters Pacheco and Brittany Perry Holden are its chief operations officer and vice president, respectively. Priscilla Perry wears co-founder, secretary and treasurer hats.

Pacheco went to law school after college, moved to Boston and practiced insurance law briefly. Her parents had supported her. But it proved to be grueling, she said, and she wanted something else out of life.

On a walk down the beach with her father, she told him that she was going to put out resumes. He offered for her to join the family business.

“I’m just really glad I had those last few years to work side by side with my dad,” she said.

Perry had four daughters and six grandchildren.

His sense of humor often shone through with them. He was fond of pulling pranks with antique and gag toys — hiding a fake hand under a closet door, wearing Billy-Bob teeth or donning a “cheesehead” when dropping Holden off at school.

A devout Christian, he prayed for his family and his business’ staff every day, his wife said.

With his passing, his family has asked that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to a charitable organization in his memory.

“There were so many causes that he cared about,” Pacheco said. “He never wanted to say no to anybody. I didn’t feel like we could choose one.”

A celebration of his life will be held at Carmel Country Club on Aug. 23, from 4 to 7 p.m. Friends and family are invited to the drop-in event.