Bernard Feustman Gimbel (April 10, 1885 – September 29, 1966) was an American businessman and president of the

Gimbels Gimbel Brothers (known simply as Gimbels) was an American department store corporation that operated for over a century, from 1842 until 1987. Gimbel patriarch Adam Gimbel opened his first store in Vincennes, Indiana, in 1842. In 1887, the compa ...

department store.

Biography

Gimbel was born to

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 ...

parents, Rachel (née Feustman) and Isaac Gimbel, son of

Adam Gimbel Adam Gimbel (1817–1896) was the founder of the Gimbel Brothers Company. Biography Gimbel was born to a Jewish family in Bavaria in 1817 where he worked in the local baron's vineyard.University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. He started as a shipping clerk for his family's company and worked his way up to vice president in 1909. In 1910, Gimbel convinced his family to open a department store in New York City at the cost of $17 million ($425 million in 2013 dollars). In 1922, he convinced his family to list Gimbels on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...

although with the family maintaining a controlling interest. In 1923, Gimbels purchased a controlling interest in

Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue (originally Saks & Company; Colloquialism, colloquially Saks) is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain headquartered in New York City and founded by Andrew Saks. The original store opened in the F Street and ...

for $8 million from Horace Saks, son of

Andrew Saks Andrew Saks (June 5, 1847 – April 8, 1912) was an American businessman known as the founder of department store Saks Fifth Avenue. Biography Saks was born to a German Jewish family, in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Helena and William Sak ...

, using the money from the Gimbel's stock issuance.Harris, p. 79 Also in 1923, Gimbels purchased the Kaufmann & Baer store in Pittsburgh (Kaufmann & Baer was founded by the cousins of the

Kaufmann's Kaufmann's was a department store that originated in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Summary The store was owned in the early 20th century by Edgar J. Kaufmann, patron of the famous Fallingwater house. In the post-war years, the store became a regi ...

department store also in Pittsburgh). In 1924, he brought the Gimbels Thanksgiving Day Parade (which his family had sponsored in Philadelphia since 1920) to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. After Horace Saks died in 1926, he appointed his cousin Adam Long Gimbel (son of Charles Gimbel, the husband of Sophie Gimbel). In 1926, Gimbel took over the company after his father was partially paralyzed after being thrown from a horse. While president, he targeted his rival

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

which was featured in the movie ''

Miracle on 34th Street ''Miracle on 34th Street'' (initially released as ''The Big Heart'' in the United Kingdom) is a 1947 American List of Christmas films, Christmas comedy-drama film released by 20th Century Fox, written and directed by George Seaton and based on ...

'', and expanded the Saks brand nationally. In 1930, the company operated 20 stores with $123 million in sales ($1.7 billion in 2013 dollars), the largest department store chain in the world. Prior to World War II, Gimbel stocked up on consumer products he felt would be scarce if a war were to erupt, which paid off handsomely later. In 1953, Gimbel retired handing control to his son Bruce Alva Gimbel; at the time, Gimbel's had $300 million in sales. Gimbels later was purchased by the

Batus Retail Group British American Tobacco US, mostly known for its acronym BATUS, was the US subsidiary of multinational company British American Tobacco (BAT), the world's second largest cigarette manufacturer. BATUS served as the U.S. holding company for BAT. ...

and then the brand was retired in 1986.

Personal life

In 1912, Gimbel married 18 year old Alva Bernheimer; they had five children: Bruce Alva Gimbel; twins

Peter Gimbel Peter R. Gimbel (February 14, 1927 – July 12, 1987) was an American filmmaker and underwater photojournalist. Biography Born in New York City, he was the son of Alva (née Bernheimer) and Bernard Feustman Gimbel and heir to the Gimbels depar ...

and David Gimbel; and twins Hope Gimbel and Caral Gimbel. His daughter Hope was married and divorced from art collector David M. Solinger (their daughter, Lynn Stern, a photographer married architect

Robert A. M. Stern Robert Arthur Morton Stern, usually credited as Robert A. M. Stern (born May 23, 1939), is a New York City–based architect, educator, and author. He is the founding partner of the architecture firm, Robert A.M. Stern Architects, also known a ...

). His daughter Caral was married and divorced from

Edward Lasker Edward Lasker (born Eduard Lasker) (December 3, 1885 – March 25, 1981) was a German-American chess and Go player. He was awarded the title of International Master of chess by FIDE. Lasker was an engineer by profession, and an author of ...

, son of

Albert Lasker Albert Davis Lasker (May 1, 1880 – May 30, 1952) was an American businessman who played a major role in shaping modern advertising. He was raised in Galveston, Texas, where his father was the president of several banks. Moving to Chicago, he be ...

; and baseball superstar

Hank Greenberg Henry Benjamin Greenberg (born Hyman Greenberg; January 1, 1911 – September 4, 1986), nicknamed "Hammerin' Hank", "Hankus Pankus", or "The Hebrew Hammer", was an American professional baseball player and team executive. He played in Major Leagu ...

, before settling down with World War II hero Joseph M. Lebworth. His son David Alva died of cancer at the age of 29. Gimbel died in 1966. Services were held at Temple Emanu-El in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gimbel, Bernard 1885 births 1966 deaths American retail chief executives American people of German-Jewish descent Gimbel family