Bernie Marcus, Home Depot co-founder and billionaire philanthropist, dies at 95

recent YORK — Bernard “Bernie” Marcus, the co-founder of The Home Depot, the globe’s largest home advancement chain, a billionaire philanthropist, and a large Republican donor, has died. He was 95.

Marcus died Monday in Boca Raton, Florida, surrounded by household, according to a Home Depot spokesperson.

Marcus was Home Depot’s CEO as it grew rapidly during its first two decades, and was chairman of the board until his superannuation in 2002. In recent years, he became an outspoken supporter of former president Donald Trump.

“We owe an immeasurable obligation of gratitude to Bernie,” the business said in a statement. “He was a master merchant and a retail visionary. But even more importantly, he valued our associates, customers and communities above all. He’s left us with an invaluable legacy and the backbone of our business: our values and population. ”

The son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Marcus was born in 1929 and grew up in a tenement in Newark, recent Jersey, according to a biography on the business’s website. Marcus had aspirations of becoming a doctor, but his household couldn’t afford medical school and he endeavored to become a pharmacist, receiving a degree from Rutgers University. Marcus used to declare he’d skip classes to sell Amana freezers door-to-door, according to Home Depot.

After college, Marcus worked at the manufacturing conglomerate O’Dell’s and the retail chain Vornado, quickly ascending the corporate ladder. By 1972, Marcus was chairman and president of Handy Dan advancement Centers, part of the Daylin conglomerate. It was there that Marcus formed a lifelong companionship with Arthur Blank.

The large instant in his career arrived after he was fired by Handy Dan in 1978, along with Blank. Marcus had dreamt of a one-stop shop for do-it-yourselfers. At age 49, Marcus, along with Blank, founded Home Depot. resource banker Ken Langone helped to secure capitalization to get The Home Depot started, according to the business.

The first Home Depot opened in Atlanta the following year and by 1981, the business went community and began selling distribute. There are now more than 2,000 Home Depot stores and the business employs more than 500,000 people. In the history decade annual sales at Home Depot have doubled, reaching nearly $153 billion in 2023

Marcus has financially supported various charities as well as Jewish and medical organizations through donations. He also built the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, one of the largest in the globe. The business said that his philanthropic work will continue through The Marcus Foundation, with a focus on Jewish causes, children, medical research, free enterprise and the throng.

Marcus was a vocal and financial supporter of Donald Trump, donating nearly $5 million to the Republican event between 2016 and 2020, according to OpenSecrets, an organization that tracks political spending. Last year, Marcus penned an op-ed for the correct wing site Real obvious Politics, a clearinghouse of elections data and analysis, that spelled out the reasons he was endorsing Trump for a second term.