Independents

Pearl Stringer Margaret Hoisik Dies

IndependentsNov 25, 2025

Pearl Stringer Margaret Hoisik Dies

She is remembered as an artist who loved her craft and was devoted to her faith, her friends, and her family.

Margaret “Maggie” Hoisik
Margaret Hoisik, who worked for decades as a pearl stringer for Tiffany & Co. and Cartier before starting her own business, died on Nov. 11.
New York—Margaret “Maggie” Hoisik, a pearl stringer who worked for luxury jewelry brands, died surrounded by her family on Nov. 11.

Hoisik was born in New York City in 1936 and spent most of her life working in midtown Manhattan as a pearl stringer.

In high school, she did a work-study program at Tiffany & Co., where she first learned the craft while assisting in the pearl stringing department.

After 22 years with the jeweler, she went to work at Cartier, where she spent around a decade before starting her own pearl stringing business.

In 2016, she retired at 80 years old.

She was proud of her craft and regarded her work friends as family too, according to her online obituary.

She also loved to crochet, particularly blankets, hats, cardigans, and other baby gifts.

Hoisik enjoyed teaching her nieces how to crochet and string pearls. 

While everyone relished the lessons, not many “mastered the crafts” in the way she did, the obituary said.

Hoisik was a devout Catholic, and daily prayer was important to her.

She always looked at the positive side of life and never talked badly about anyone, her obituary said.

She was a good listener and loyal friend who never judged and frequently checked in on her loved ones.

Hoisik had a deep love of family. She never married but was very involved in the lives of her nieces and nephews, all of whom she treated as her own.

In an Instagram post, one of her grandnieces wrote, “Maggie was loving, before anything else. She stayed home from college to make jewelry which she sold to help pay for my grandmother’s schooling fees.” 

Hoisik enjoyed family gatherings and was very involved around the holidays, from putting batteries into Christmas decorations to preparing Easter baskets and handing out candy at Halloween.  

She never forgot a birthday or anniversary, always sending a card and making a personal phone call on the day. She kept the family together, her obituary said. 

Later in her life, Hoisik moved to City Island with her mother to be closer to her cousins.  

In recent years, she moved to Yorktown Heights to be closer to her sister, nieces, and nephews. 

She was preceded in death by her parents, Catherine and Anthony Hoisik, and her brother Paul Michael “Mickey” Hoisik. 

She is survived by her sister Mary and brother-in-law Kevin, as well as several nieces, nephews, grandnieces, and grandnephews. 


Lauren McLemoreis the associate editor, gemstones at National Jeweler, covering sourcing, pricing and other developments.

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