![](\"https:\/\/www.travelweekly.com\/uploadedImages\/Art\/2021\/0802\/T0802SILVERMAN_C.jpg\")
<\/p>\nGordy Silverman, the senior director of industry education at Unique Vacations and a longtime advocate for travel agent education who helped develop Sandals Resorts’ Certified Sandals Specialist program, died July 24 following a brief battle with cancer. She was 64.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Silverman joined Unique Vacations in 1987 and quickly established herself as an “exuberant champion of travel agents,” according to a statement from the company. She began in the Miami office but later launched Unique Vacation’s West Coast presence.\n<\/p>\n
Gary Sadler, Unique Vacations’ executive vice president of sales and industry relations, described Silverman as the “mother of all trainers in the travel industry.”<\/p>\n
“For more than 25 years, she was a driving force in the specialist workshops, keeping the sales messaging and training fresh and relevant for travel advisors year in and year out,” he said.<\/p>\n
Sadler credited Silverman for building the framework and the foundations for the global sales training “that the team and I proudly stand upon today,” he said. <\/p>\n
“Gordy’s long-term dedication to the company and her knowledge of the travel industry were instrumental to our success,” he said. “She will be deeply missed.”<\/p>\n
Advisors and industry friends are invited to contribute thoughts and memories of Silverman to a Sandals Memory jar being established by her longtime friend and colleague Maura Cecere at [email protected]<\/p>\n