Nathan S. Ancell (August 22, 1908 – May 31, 1999) co-founded the

Ethan Allen Ethan Allen ( – February 12, 1789) was an American farmer, businessman, land speculator, philosopher, writer, lay theologian, American Revolutionary War patriot, and politician. He is best known as one of the founders of Vermont and for ...

furniture company with his brother-in-law, Theodore Baumritter, in 1932. Together, the two men pioneered the concept of selling furniture in room-style settings and built the Ethan Allen company. Today, Ethan Allen has sales of nearly $1 billion.

Early life

Born Nathan Ancelewitz, Nathan S. "Nat" Ancell grew up in New York and was Jewish. In 1932, he and his brother-in-law started a small housewares company. The two bought a bankrupt furniture manufacturer in

Beecher Falls, Vermont Beecher Falls is a census-designated place in the town of Canaan, Essex County, Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New ...

a few years later. Ancell attended Columbia College in

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and graduated in 1929.

Business practices

Ancell was known as the father of the gallery concept, where furniture was placed in real-life settings in furniture stores. The company vision statement illustrates his viewpoint in how to conduct business: "To promote dreams not just furniture-to help consumers have the attractive homes they want, regardless of the station in life." The family sold the Ethan Allen company to Interco in 1980. Ancell continued as manager and later as an advisor until the company was sold again in 1989.

Philanthropic works

In 1982, he was honored by

Western Connecticut State University Western Connecticut State University (WCSU and WestConn) is a public university in Danbury, Connecticut. It was founded in 1903 as a teacher's college and is part of the Connecticut State University System. WCSU consists of four schools: the Anc ...

, who named the

Ancell School of Business The Ancell school of business (ASB) is the business school at Western Connecticut State University. Nathan S. Ancell, a major benefactor of the university and president of Ethan Allen, was honored with his name in memorial. The Ancell School o ...

after him following his donation of $900,000. Afterwards, he taught ethics and marketing at the school. Ancell served on the board of

Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , pro ...

for 25 years. He funded a chair in physics and a fellowship in physics, and was awarded an honorary

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in 1990 and the Distinguished Community Service Award in 1988. He established the Florence and Theodore Baumritter Chair in Medicine at the

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Yeshiva University Yeshiva University is a private Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City."About YU
on the Yeshiva Universit ...

. He was also a benefactor and received an honorary degree. Ancell also served as co-chair of the UJA-Federation Board of Directors.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ancell, Nathan S. 1908 births 1999 deaths Columbia College (New York) alumni 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American philanthropists