Max Louis Raab (June 9, 1926 – February 21, 2008) was an American clothing businessman[1] and film producer.
Raab grew up in the city's Tioga neighborhood, attending Rutgers Preparatory School and the Wooster Academy.
After his military discharge, Max began his career in the apparel business at his father's blouse company, Morgan Raab.
American women's fashion was being increasingly dominated by teenage girls and adults with upwardly mobile tastes.
[1] In 1958, Raab and his brother Norman started The Villager, a clothing line that would define preppy Ivy League fashion for decades.
[1] The Villager quickly grew to be one of the preeminent brands in American sportswear, only to diminish in popularity with the advent of the late 1960s counterculture and attendant styles in fashion.
In the 1960s, filmmaker Frank Perry asked Raab if he would donate the wardrobe for his low-budget film (David and Lisa).
Raab produced several other films, including Lions Love with writer and director Agnès Varda.
It was an impressionistic and music filled film that showed the intersections of people's lives in this public space.
[1] In his last two years, Raab and Downey again began work on a musical documentary on the composer Kurt Weill and his singer/actress Lotte Lenya.
In his final year, Raab opened a small shop and website selling collectible model cars, sailboats, airplanes, tin toys and other items.