Alfred Marshall (February 28, 1919 – December 28, 2013) was an American businessman who founded

Marshalls Marshalls is an American chain of off-price department stores owned by TJX Companies. Marshalls has over 1,000 American stores, including larger stores named Marshalls Mega Store, covering 42 states and Puerto Rico, and 61 stores in Canada. M ...

, a chain of department stores which specializes in overstocked, irregular and out-of-season name brand clothing sold at deeply discounted prices. He opened the original Marshalls in 1956 in Beverly, Massachusetts.

Early life

Marshall was born on February 28, 1919 to a prosperous

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family in Lawrence, Massachusetts, the son of Annie ('' née'' Spector) and Louis Marshall. His father abandoned the family after he lost everything in the Great Depression. In 1937, he graduated from

Beverly High School Beverly High School is one of two four-year public high schools in Beverly, Massachusetts, United States, the other being the smaller Northshore Academy. It has an enrollment of approximately 1,300 students and is accredited by the Massachuset ...

in Beverly, Massachusetts, shortly before working for the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

as a civilian underwater welder. He went to Hawaii as a civilian welder for the Navy after the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii ...

occurred, and worked on repairing the damaged ships.

United States Department of the Navy The United States Department of the Navy (DoN) is one of the three military departments within the Department of Defense of the United States of America. It was established by an Act of Congress on 30 April 1798, at the urging of Secretary o ...

. "List of Personnel Passengers of U.S.S. Wharton at date of sailing from San Francisco, California for Hawaiian Area, Civilian Service Employees, Date: February 7, 1942",

Bureau of Navigation The Bureau of Navigation, later the Bureau of Navigation and Steamboat Inspection and finally the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation — not to be confused with the United States Navys Bureau of Navigation — was an agency of the United ...

Manual Form N. Nav. 5-c Muster Roll showing all other persons taking passage on the vessel, page 29. Note: Alfred Marshall is listed on the muster roll as a civilian welder. Marshall returned to Beverly after the end of the war, where he married the former Marirose Pelletier, his first wife.

Business career

Marshall began his post-war career by working as a welder and contractor. He then purchased a

fruit stand A fruit stand is a primarily open-air business venue that sells seasonal fruit and many fruit products from local growers. It might also sell vegetables and various processed items derived from fruit. The fruit stand is a small business structure ...

, which he expanded into a supermarket. By the 1950s, Marshall was selling wholesale products out of his supermarket, including sundries, baby supplies, and

cosmetics Cosmetics are constituted mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either natural sources, or synthetically created ones. Cosmetics have various purposes. Those designed for personal care and skin care can be used to cleanse or protect ...

. In 1956, Alfred Marshall opened a new addition to his existing supermarket, located in Beverly, Massachusetts, utilizing funding provided by two business partners. This location became the first Marshall's department store. (The company later dropped the apostrophe from the name). The original Marshalls location remained open for decades. However, the first store eventually closed and is currently the site of another supermarket, as of 2014. Alfred Marshall and his business partners expanded the chain throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Marshalls had 36 locations throughout New England and California by 1976, which were directly owned by Marshall and three other business partners. The partners sold Marshalls to the Melville Corporation in 1976. Marshalls was next acquired by

TJX Companies The TJX Companies, Inc. (abbreviated TJX) is an American multinational off-price department store corporation, headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts. It was formed as a subsidiary of Zayre Corp. in 1987, and became the legal successor t ...

, which also owns T.J. Maxx and

HomeGoods HomeGoods is a chain of home furnishing stores headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts. It was founded as a small chain in 1992, and grew to include hundreds of locations throughout the United States. HomeGoods sells furniture, linens, cooking ...

, in 1995. Marshalls had 496 locations at the time of the 1995 acquisition. As of 2012, there were 904 Marshalls stores worldwide.

Retirement

Marshall died from a short illness in Boca Raton, Florida, on December 28, 2013, at the age of 94. His first wife, Marirose, died in 2001, and his second wife was Estelle Newberg. He had three children - Ronald Marshall, Jan Marshall and Deborah Miller. A resident of Boca Raton at the time, Marshall's funeral service was held at Temple B'nai Abraham in his hometown of Beverly, Massachusetts and he was buried at Sons of Abraham Cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall, Alfred 1919 births 2013 deaths Retail company founders American businesspeople in retailing Businesspeople from Massachusetts United States Navy personnel of World War II People from Beverly, Massachusetts People from Boca Raton, Florida United States Navy civilians 20th-century American businesspeople Beverly High School alumni