Bernard Marcus | |
|---|---|
 Marcus in 2010 | |
| Born | May 12, 1929 [1] Newark, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Education | Rutgers University (BS) |
| Occupation(s) | Businessman, investor, philanthropist |
| Years active | 1978–present |
| Known for | Co-founder of The Home Depot |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouses |
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| Children | 3 |
Bernard Marcus (born May 12, 1929) is an American billionaire businessman. He co-founded The Home Depot. He was the company's first CEO and first chairman until retiring in 2002.
Bernard (Bernie) Marcus was born to Russian Jewish immigrant parents in Newark, New Jersey. [2] He was the youngest of four children and grew up in a tenement. He graduated from South Side High School in 1947. [3] Marcus wanted to become a doctor, and was accepted to Harvard Medical School, [4] [5] but could not afford the tuition. He graduated from Rutgers University with a pharmacy degree. [2] While there he joined the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity. [6]
Marcus worked at a drugstore as a pharmacist but became more interested in the retailing side of the business. He worked at a cosmetics company and various other retail jobs, eventually reaching a position as CEO of Handy Dan Improvement Centers, a Los Angeles-based chain of home improvement stores. In 1978, both he and future Home Depot co-founder Arthur Blank were fired during a corporate power struggle at Handy Dan.
In 1978, they co-founded the home-improvement retailer The Home Depot, with the help of merchandising expert Pat Farrah and New York investment banker Ken Langone who assembled a group of investors. The first two stores opened on June 22, 1979 in Atlanta. [7]
The store revolutionized the home improvement business with its warehouse concept. Blank, Marcus, and Langone became billionaires. Marcus served as the company's first CEO for 19 years and also served as chairman of the board until his retirement in 2002. Marcus was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 2006.
Marcus is one of several business tycoons who opposed the Employee Free Choice Act, a controversial proposal they claim gives unfair advantage to labor unions. The EFCA would outlaw conducting employee union votes with secret ballots while allowing fines and injunctions when employees show they are being punished for union activity on the job. [8]
In 2010, Marcus founded the Job Creators Network, a conservative advocacy group, with $500,000 in seed funding. [9]
In 2015, Marcus donated $1.5 million to Super PACs supporting Jeb Bush and Scott Walker. [10]
On June 1, 2016, Marcus publicly announced his support for Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump. [11] He was one of Trump's largest donors, giving $7 million to his campaign. [12] When Marcus announced in 2019 that he would financially support the Donald Trump 2020 presidential campaign, it triggered calls for a boycott of Home Depot even though Marcus was no longer with the company. [13] Together with his spouse, Marcus contributed $731,200 directly to Trump's 2020 presidential campaign [14] and $10.7 million to political action committees supporting Trump. [15]
In 2023, Marcus announced he would back Trump's third consecutive campaign. [15]
Marcus is a longtime philanthropist who plans to give away 90% of his $5.9 billion fortune to charity. Bernie and Billi Marcus are signatories of The Giving Pledge, a commitment to give away the majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes. [16] As of 2019, he has given away $2 billion to various philanthropic causes and has pledged to give away most of his $5.9 billion fortune. [17] [18] [19] Regardless, after a short drop to $4.6 billion in 2020, his wealth has doubled back to $9.8 billion in 2024. [20]
Marcus was one of the first signees of the Jewish Future Pledge, a charitable campaign launched in 2020 modeled after The Giving Pledge to encourage American Jews to designate at least 50% of their charitable giving to Jewish- or Israel-related causes. [21]
Marcus is chairman of the Marcus Foundation, whose focuses include children, medical research, free enterprise, military veterans, Jewish causes and the community. [22] Marcus is on the Board of Directors and an active volunteer for the Shepherd Center. [23] One of his main initiatives is providing care for war veterans with traumatic brain injuries. [24]
In May 2005, Marcus was awarded the Others Award by the Salvation Army, its highest honor. [2]
He was named a Georgia Trustee in 2009. The award is given by the Georgia Historical Society, in conjunction with the Governor of Georgia, to individuals whose accomplishments and community service reflect the ideals of the founding body of Trustees, which governed the Georgia colony from 1732 to 1752. [25] In 2012, Marcus was awarded the William E. Simon Prize for Philanthropic Leadership. [26] [27]
Marcus co-founded the Israel Democracy Institute in 1991, contributing $5 million for the construction of the institute's building in Jerusalem's Talbiya neighborhood and investing hundreds of millions of shekels in its ongoing operation over the years. [28] In 2016, Marcus and his wife Billi donated $25 million to the construction of the $133 million MDA Marcus National Blood Services Centre in Israel. [29]
Marcus heavily contributed to the launch of the Georgia Aquarium, which opened in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, in 2005. [30] Based mostly on the $250 million donation for the Aquarium, Marcus and his wife, Billi, were listed among the top charitable donors in the country by The Chronicle of Philanthropy in 2005.
Marcus funded and founded The Marcus Institute, a center for the provision of services for children and adolescents with developmental disabilities. Marcus founded and donated $25 million to Autism Speaks to spearhead its efforts to raise money for research on the causes and cure for autism. He is an active member of the board of directors. [31]
In 1999, [32] [33] Marcus, along with Arthur Blank and Bob Andelman, wrote the book Built from Scratch: How a Couple of Regular Guys Grew The Home Depot from Nothing to $30 Billion. [34] [35]
Marcus, with Catherine Lewis, wrote a book titled Kick Up Some Dust: Lessons on Thinking, Giving Back and Doing It Yourself. [36] The book debuted at The Book Festival of the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta (MJCCA) on November 6, 2022. [37]
Marcus has been married twice. He has two children with his first wife, Ruth: Frederick Marcus and Susanne Marcus Collins. With his second wife, Billi, he has a stepson, Michael Morris. [38]
Azim Hashim Premji is an Indian businessman and philanthropist, who was the chairman of Wipro Limited. Premji remains a non-executive member of the board and founder chairman. He is informally known as the Czar of the Indian IT Industry. He was responsible for guiding Wipro through four decades of diversification and growth, to finally emerge as one of the global leaders in the software industry. In 2010, he was voted among the 20 most powerful men in the world by Asiaweek. He has twice been listed among the 100 most influential people by Time magazine, once in 2004 and more recently in 2011. For years, he has been regularly listed one among The 500 Most Influential Muslims. He also serves as the Chancellor of Azim Premji University, Bangalore. Premji was awarded Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award, by the Government of India.
Arthur Morris Blank is an American businessman. He is best known for being a co-founder of the home improvement retailer The Home Depot.
Victor Mykhailovych Pinchuk is a Ukrainian businessman and oligarch. As of January 2016, Forbes magazine ranked him as 1,250th on the list of wealthiest people in the world, with a fortune of US$1.44 billion.
Charles Clarence Butt is an American heir and billionaire. He inherited his family's San Antonio–based H-E-B supermarket chain in 1971. The privately held company has more than 400 stores and $38.9 billion in sales, according to Forbes.
Sheldon Gary Adelson was an American businessman, investor, political donor, and philanthropist. He was the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corporation, which owns the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, and the parent company of Venetian Macao Limited, which operated The Venetian Las Vegas and the Sands Expo and Convention Center before selling the properties in early 2022. He owned the Israeli daily newspaper Israel Hayom, the Israeli weekly newspaper Makor Rishon, and the American daily newspaper the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Kenneth Gerard Langone Sr. KSG is an American billionaire businessman best known for organizing financing for the founders of The Home Depot. He is a major donor to the Republican Party.
Jeffrey S. Yass is an American billionaire businessman. According to Forbes, Yass had a net worth of $28.5 billion in 2023. Yass is the richest man in Pennsylvania.
Marc Russell Benioff is an American internet entrepreneur and philanthropist. Benioff is best known as the co-founder, chairman and CEO of the software company Salesforce, as well as being the owner of Time magazine since 2018.
Ronald M. Brill is a former American retail executive and is a co-founder of the Home Depot. He worked with Arthur Blank and Bernard Marcus at Handy Dan Home Improvement and was fired from that company at the same time they were. Brill was Home Depot's first official employee. He worked with Home Depot for over 20 years, serving as the company's Chief Administration Officer from 1995-2000.
Sara Treleaven Blakely is an American businesswoman and philanthropist. She is the founder of Spanx, an American intimate apparel company with pants and leggings, founded in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2012, Blakely was named in Time magazine's "Time 100" annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2014, she was listed as the 93rd most powerful woman in the world by Forbes.
Anthony Joseph Pratt, an Australian businessman and billionaire, is the executive chairman of Visy Industries, the world's largest privately owned packaging and paper company. Pratt is the heir to Richard Pratt, the former chair of Visy Industries and Leon Pratt, who co-founded the company in 1945.
The Home Depot, Inc., often simply referred to as Home Depot, is an American multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportation rentals. Home Depot is the largest home improvement retailer in the United States. In 2021, the company had 490,600 employees and more than $151 billion in revenue. The company is headquartered in unincorporated Cobb County, Georgia, with an Atlanta mailing address.
Dustin Aaron Moskovitz is an American billionaire internet entrepreneur who co-founded Facebook, Inc. with Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum and Chris Hughes. In 2008, he left Facebook to co-found Asana with Justin Rosenstein. In March 2011, Forbes reported Moskovitz to be the youngest self-made billionaire in the world, on the basis of his then 2.34% share in Facebook. As of October 2023, his net worth is estimated at US$18.0 billion by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Stewart J. Rahr is an American entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist. Rahr was the founder and owner of pharmaceutical and generics wholesaler Kinray, the largest privately owned pharmaceutical distributor in the world until it was bought out by Cardinal Health in 2010. The sale made Rahr a billionaire.
Thomas Fahr Steyer is an American climate investor, businessman, hedge fund manager, philanthropist, environmentalist, and liberal activist. Steyer is the co-founder and co-chair of Galvanize Climate Solutions, founder and former co-senior-managing-partner of Farallon Capital and the co-founder of OneCalifornia Bank, which became Beneficial State Bank, an Oakland-based community development bank. Farallon Capital manages $20 billion in capital for institutions and high-net-worth individuals. The firm's institutional investors include college endowments and foundations. Steyer served on the board of trustees at Stanford University from 2007 to 2017. Since 1986, he has been a partner and member of the executive committee at Hellman & Friedman, a San Francisco–based private equity firm.
The Giving Pledge is a charitable campaign, founded by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, to encourage wealthy people to contribute a majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes. As of June 2022, the pledge has had 236 signatories from 28 countries. Most of the signatories of the pledge are billionaires, and as of 2023, their pledges are estimated at a total of US$600 billion. However, there is no enforcement mechanism, and no restrictions on the charitable causes that signatories are allowed to support.
Thomas "Tom" Secunda is an American billionaire businessman, best known as one of the four co-founders of Bloomberg L.P. and its vice chairman. As of May 2022, his net worth was estimated at US$4.1 billion. He has signed Giving Pledge which commits him to donating the majority of his wealth to charity.
The Job Creators Network (JCN) is a conservative U.S. advocacy group founded by Bernie Marcus, the co-founder and former CEO of Home Depot.
Diana Latow Blank is an American philanthropist who founded the Kendeda Fund. She is the former wife of The Home Depot co-founder, Arthur Blank.
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