A major benefactor of Northwestern University, Josephine Louis owned and ran Eximious, a specialty gift catalog and retail store, for a quarter century, connecting consumers with rare treasures from the United Kingdom and elsewhere.

Josephine, right, and John Louis, former U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom, climb the steps to the grand ballroom at the Chicago Hilton and Towers for the Consular Ball on Oct. 31, 1987. (John Bartley/Chicago Tribune)

Louis, the wife of the U.S. ambassador to the U.K.  in the early 1980s, was known for her generosity and graciousness across all her interests and activities, said friends and family members.

“Jo was serious, passionate and completely devoted to Eximious,” said Beverly Lang, a longtime friend and Eximious colleague. “She chose product for her customers of Eximious as though they were her family. In that same vein, she treated her employees with respect, kindness and understanding.”

Louis, 95, died of natural causes Jan. 25 at a hospital in Florida, said her son, Jeffry. She was a resident of Winnetka and of Ocean Ridge, Florida. Her family also had a home on Lake Owen in northwest Wisconsin.

Born Josephine Peters in 1930 in Fort Pierce, Florida, Louis was an unabashed tomboy as a youngster, riding a pony and shooting a BB gun at spiders in the trees of their orange grove, her family said.

After graduating from Southern Seminary in Virginia, Louis attended Northwestern University, where she got a degree in theater in 1952. She then worked for a year as a copywriter for an advertising agency before marrying her husband, John J. Louis Jr., in 1953.

Louis and her husband soon settled in Winnetka, where they raised their children.

Louis’ husband first worked in advertising for a family firm and then in international marketing for the SC Johnson & Son household cleaning supplies firm, which his great-grandfather founded. He then oversaw a radio and billboard company, which merged with newspaper company Gannett in 1979, and he joined Gannett’s board of directors.

Louis had served on Northwestern’s women’s board, and as donors to Northwestern, she and her husband helped fund the construction of the university’s Theatre & Interpretation Center, which was built in 1980 and then renamed the Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts in 2015.

The university named the facility’s 350-seat proscenium theater after Louis, and that space is still known as the Josephine Louis Theater.

Shortly after President Ronald Reagan’s inauguration in 1981, Louis’ husband was tapped to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the Court of St. James — otherwise known as the U.S. ambassador to the U.K.

Louis moved with her husband to the ambassador’s residence in London, a 35-room, Georgian-style mansion known as Winfield House. For the next two years, Louis hosted royalty, politicians and dignitaries at numerous events at Winfield House during what was an eventful time in England.

It was the period when now-King Charles — then the heir apparent to the British throne — married Lady Diana Spencer, as well as an era when two ideologically similar leaders, Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, were at the helms of their respective countries.

“She couldn’t wait to go to London,” said Louis’ daughter Kimberly Stewart. “She grabbed it with both hands. It was the right place and right time for her.”

During her time in London, Louis oversaw renovations of Winfield House’s public rooms — costs underwritten by the U.S. government — and personally funded renovations of the mansion’s private living spaces.

“Redoing the house took quite a bit of time,” Louis told the Tribune in 1982.

Louis also changed the art in the public rooms, telling the Tribune that “we were in desperate need of some nice paintings.”

While in London, Louis had enjoyed shopping at a specialty gift store and catalog house on Halkin Street in London’s Belgravia area. The store was called Eximious, a word meaning “select,” “choice” or “excellent.”

She soon became an investor in Eximious and upon her return stateside in 1983 after her husband had concluded his time as ambassador, she took over the entire business, becoming its chairman and CEO.

She initially began marketing Eximious’ items via catalog, and in 1984, she moved the catalog operation from London to Chicago. The following year, she moved the operation to a warehouse and office in Winnetka’s Hubbard Woods area, and within a week she opened its first U.S. retail store at the warehouse.

“Mom started in the basement of their house and sent out a small number of catalogs at the beginning, and the business eventually got bigger and bigger, and she had a shop on Oak Street downtown, a shop at Hubbard Woods in Winnetka and an outlet at a warehouse in Northfield,” Jeffry Louis said.

Eximious had a royal warrant, a seal of approval issued to those supplying goods to royal personages, from then-Prince Charles. At Eximious, shoppers might encounter monogrammed leather and desk accessories, decorative pillows, hand-painted enamel boxes, objects for house parties and even some larger antiques with a British theme to them.

To source new items, Louis would attend trade shows and also join employees in visiting various countries looking for appropriate products. Louis also would “invent” products, dreaming up an idea and then asking a manufacturer to create it, Stewart said.

Another daughter, Tracy Merrill, worked with her mother at Eximious and called it Louis’ “passion project after leaving England.”

“Mom loved Eximious,” Merrill said. “It kept her at least as busy as the embassy work — if not busier. I had a few very happy years helping to produce her catalogs. It was a fun job as all of the photography was done in and around London.”

Louis told the Tribune in 1990 that Eximious “pretty much reflects my taste.”

“We try to be unique,” she said.

Louis wound down her business in 2009.

After her husband died in 1995, Louis was asked to serve on the board of Gannett, a role she held until retiring from the publishing company’s board in May 2000.

She also supported organizations aimed at finding a cure for Alzheimer’s disease, including the Wyoming-based nonprofit group Brain Chemistry Labs, which seeks to find new cures from plants, Merrill said.

In addition to spending time with her family, Louis had numerous interests. She was a member of Winnetka’s Garden Club and she served on the board of the Chicago Botanic Garden.

“Jo’s love of the (Chicago Botanic) Garden went well beyond an appreciation for its beautiful landscapes,” said Chicago Botanic Garden CEO and President Jean Franczyk.

“She had deep curiosity about our plant conservation science work, always wanting to know more about rare plant conservation, plant genetics and prescribed burns in restoration areas,” Franczyk said. “She also knew that time spent in gardens and green space had huge mental and physical health benefits and she was an early champion for our work in this space. ‘Remember accessibility,’ she would often remind us.”

With her husband, Louis also embarked on eight safari adventures across Africa, long before the existence of established camps or tourism. And she was an avid golfer who had not grown up playing the sport but secretly took daily lessons for two years to be able to keep up with her husband. Louis was a member of Shoreacres in Lake Bluff, Indian Hill Club in Winnetka and Glen View Club located in Golf, Illinois.

Louis also enjoyed spending summers at her family’s longtime getaway on Lake Owen in Wisconsin. And she enjoyed playing bridge with friends in Ocean Ridge.

“She was so positive about everything. There was no limit to her generosity of spirit,” said Virginia “Ginny” Adams, a longtime friend and fellow bridge player. “And she was just the hostess supreme. When she hosted, she treated all of us like she would have treated the queen of England. She saw everyone’s needs quietly without anyone knowing.”

In addition to her son and daughters, Louis is survived by 12 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

A celebration of life is being planned for Florida.

Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/12/josephine-louis-eximious-obituary/