Bernard “Bernie” Marcus, the co-founder of The Home Depot, a billionaire philanthropist, and a significant Republican donor, has passed away at the age of 95. According to a Home Depot spokesperson, Marcus died on Monday in Boca Raton, Florida, surrounded by his family.
Marcus held the position of Home Depot’s CEO during the company’s rapid growth in its first two decades and remained chairman of the board until his retirement in 2002. Today, Home Depot stands as the world’s largest home improvement chain. In recent years, Marcus emerged as a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump.
“We owe an immeasurable debt of gratitude to Bernie,” the company expressed 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 company: our values and culture.”
Born in 1929 to Russian Jewish immigrants, Marcus grew up in a tenement in Newark, New Jersey. He aspired to become a doctor, but financial constraints led him to pursue a career in pharmacy, obtaining a degree from Rutgers University. Marcus often recounted how he would skip classes to sell Amana freezers door-to-door.
Following college, Marcus worked his way up the corporate ladder at the manufacturing giant O’Dell’s and the retail chain Vornado. By 1972, he had become chairman and president of Handy Dan Improvement Centers, part of the Daylin conglomerate, where he forged a lasting friendship with Arthur Blank.
The pivotal moment in Marcus’s career came in 1978, when he and Blank were fired from Handy Dan. At 49, Marcus co-founded Home Depot with Blank, turning his dream of a one-stop shop for do-it-yourselfers into reality. Investment banker Ken Langone secured financing for the venture.
The first Home Depot store opened in Atlanta the following year. By 1981, the company went public. Today, with over 2,000 stores and more than 500,000 employees, Home Depot’s annual sales have nearly doubled in the last decade, reaching almost $153 billion in 2023.
Marcus was not only a business giant but also a dedicated philanthropist. He supported numerous charities, Jewish organizations, and medical institutions through his donations. He was instrumental in building the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, one of the largest in the world. The company announced that Marcus’s philanthropic efforts would continue through The Marcus Foundation, focusing on Jewish causes, children, medical research, free enterprise, and community initiatives.
An ardent supporter of Trump, Marcus contributed nearly $5 million to the Republican Party between 2016 and 2020. Last year, he wrote an op-ed for Real Clear Politics, detailing his reasons for endorsing Trump for a second term.
