Fashion designer Kate Spade has been found dead in New York in an apparent suicide, law enforcement officials told agencies Tuesday.

Spade, 55, was found by her housekeeping staff in her Park Avenue apartment, they reported.

Kate Spade is known in Rwanda.

She has been working with Abahizi Rwanda, a cooperative from Rulindo District, to launch "On Purpose” – a social enterprise that is the first of its kind in the global retailer’s 25-year history.

Her death was apparently caused by hanging, it has been reported. A note was found nearby, but the contents of the note weren't immediately known.

Spade, born in Kansas City, Missouri, rolled out her own line of handbags in the 1990s before scaling it to include both jewelry and clothing.

She went on to sell her business to Liz Claiborne (which later changed its name to Fifth & Pacific in 2012) in 2006.

The designer met her husband, Andy, while she was studying at Arizona State University. They've been married for more than two decades. The couple has a 13-year old daughter, Frances Beatrix Spade. Andy is the brother of actor and comedian David Spade.

Last year, Coach, now known as Tapestry, bought the Kate Spade brand in a $2.4 billion deal.

Fashion house Tapestry saw its shares dip more than 2 percent on the news and were last falling less than 1 percent.

Agencies