Bernie Marcus, 1929-2024
Bernie Marcus, who helped change the course of home improvement retailing by co-founding The Home Depot and overseeing its record-breaking growth, has died. He was 95.
In a statement, the Atlanta-based retailer that he co-founded with Arthur Blank said: “The entire Home Depot family is deeply saddened by the death of our cofounder Bernie Marcus. We owe an immeasurable debt of gratitude to Bernie.”
Born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1929, Marcus graduated from Rutgers University and went on to a career in retail that included the regional home center chain Handy Dan Home Improvement in California.
At Handy Dan, two things happened that changed the course of home-improvement retail: He met Arthur Blank, and he was fired from his job. In combination, the events paved the way for the creation of The Home Depot, and its warehouse-style, DIY home-improvement approach.
In his book "Bleeding Orange," author Jim Ingles remembers Bernie Marcus as an incredible leader "who made it his business to interact with all stakeholders. He listened to their praises and, more importantly, their complaints. He was considered the friend of the investor, the vendors, the customers, and the store employees."
Marcus was an inaugural honoree of the Home Channel News Hall of Fame. And in 1981, on the 25th anniversary of Home Depot, the magazine (the forerunner of HBSDealer) published his thoughts on how the home improvement industry has changed.
"The biggest change is how proficient homeowners have now become," he said.
He went on to cite a speech he made in 1981, when he asked an audience of 400 people whether they were handy around the house: using a power saw, or fixing a running toilet, or changing the fuses in the house, for example. Seven raised their hand. In 1990, he asked the same question, and "only seven people did not raise their hand," he said.
"What happened was that we taught people how to do it themselves; there was no incentive before that," he continued. "It was so difficult to acquire the merchandise. They would have to go to a plumbing store, an electrical store, a paint store, a lumberyard. It was easier to call a carpenter or a plumber. Today, I think people automatically do everything in their house themselves."
