Frank Russek (1875/1876 - December 10, 1948) was an American businessman, and the co-founder of the

Russeks Russeks was a department store at 390 Fifth Avenue, at the intersection with West 36th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The company was co-founded by brothers Frank Russek and Isidore H. Russek, and became Russeks Fifth Avenue, Inc ...

department store chain.

Biography

Russek was a

Polish Jewish The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the lon ...

immigrant who arrived in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

in the late 1800s as a teenager. Russek started as a furrier in New York City in the early 1900s and later joined by two of his brothers, expanded into luxury clothing and accessories. In 1924, they opened a department store on Fifth Avenue and Thirty-sixth Street and named it Russeks Fifth Avenue, Inc. By 1936, they employed 500-600 people.

Personal life

He married Rose Anhalt in Manhattan on 18 June 1899, and they had two children, Gertrude Russek (1901-1994), and Harold Russek (1903-?). Gertrude Russek married David Nemerov, and they were the parents of

Diane Arbus Diane Arbus (; née Nemerov; March 14, 1923 – July 26, 1971
" The New York ...

and

Howard Nemerov Howard Nemerov (March 1, 1920 – July 5, 1991) was an American poet. He was twice Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, from 1963 to 1964 and again from 1988 to 1990. For ''The Collected Poems of Howard Nemerov'' (1977) ...

. Russek died on December 10, 1948. He was a member of Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan where his funeral services were held.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Russek, Frank 1870s births 1948 deaths American company founders American businesspeople in retailing American Jews Russek family