Bill Brough, former owner of Bill Brough Jewelers in Northampton, who died on Jan. 31, 2018, is being remembered for the jewelry he made and his love of life. SUBMITTED PHOTO
Bill Brough is seen at his home in Holyoke in February 2014. GAZETTE FILE PHOTO
Ryan O'Neill shows Michelle Powers jewelry made by Bill Brough at his shop in Northampton in February 2014. GAZETTE FILE PHOTO
Jewelry made by Bill Brough at his shop in Northampton. GAZETTE FILE PHOTO
For the Gazette
NORTHAMPTON — Bill Brough died last week, but the work he left behind may last forever.
The 62-year-old lifelong jeweler and gemologist operated Bill Brough Jewelers in Northampton from 1978 until he closed the business down in 2014, when his health began to deteriorate.
Brough crafted countless pieces of jewelry for people all over the Pioneer Valley and beyond.
“Jewelry lasts longer than we do,” Brough’s daughter Crystal Kane said Tuesday. “It creates memories and the pieces he made will be cherished by many people forever.”
Judith Fine, the former owner of Gazebo in downtown Northampton, is one of those people. She and her husband, Doug, were longtime customers of Brough’s.
“He was a great guy and very, very, very creative,” Judith Fine said. “He was an absolute professional, very good at his craft.”
Judith Fine recalled walking into Brough’s store, always seeing him with his back to the counter, magnifying glasses on, working. “He’d always stop what he was doing and take time to talk to you,” she said. “He was always available.”
“He’d always go out of his way to make sure you were happy,” Doug Fine said. “He really wanted you to be pleased. … He will be well missed. I already really miss having him downtown. He was my go-to guy.”
A celebration of Brough’s life was held at Summit View in Holyoke on Saturday afternoon. According to Kane, more than 100 people attended the event.
“There were no tears,” Kane said. “That’s what he would have wanted. It was really super fun.”
Kane said many of the attendees downed tequila shots — a favorite of Brough’s — in his honor.
Brough had been battling a number of health conditions, including congestive heart failure and kidney failure. He relied on dialysis and was hoping to receive a kidney transplant at the time of his death.
“All the fun and all the partying caught up to him,” Kane said. “He was a wicked hippie. He totally loved life and lived it to the fullest.”
Brough began working with jewelry when he was 15 years old and began an apprenticeship with a local jeweler in Stamford, Connecticut.
“I was pretty close to making master jeweler-type things by 19,” Brough told the Gazette in 2014.
Brough graduated from the Gemological Institute of America in New York City in 1975. The training he received there prepared him to appraise diamonds and differentiate between authentic and synthetic jewels.
Despite battling health issues, Brough continued to make custom jewelry by appointment from the comfort of his home after closing his business in 2014.
Brough also reconnected with his high school girlfriend, whom Kane described as “the love of his life,” just eight months before passing.
“In some ways, his life came full circle,” Kane said.
Brough leaves behind his mother, Helen; his daughters, Amanda Brough of Holyoke and Crystal Kane of Southampton; and his granddaughter, Lily.
