Bernard Marcus, co-founder of The Home Depot and billionaire Republican mega-donor, has died

New York
CNN
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Bernard “Bernie” Marcus, the billionaire Home Depot co-founder and Republican megadonor who in recent years became an outspoken supporter of former President Donald Trump, has died, the company announced Tuesday. He was 95.

“The entire Home Depot family is deeply saddened by the passing of our co-founder Bernie Marcus,” The Home Depot said in a statement. “We owe Bernie immense gratitude.”

Marcus, who had a net worth of about $7.4 billion according to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index, made his fortune by co-founding The Home Depot with Arthur Blank in 1978. The duo grew the orange-clad hardware store into a retailer that now has 2,300 stores and a stock market cap of almost 400 billion

Born in 1929 in Newark, New Jersey, to Russian Jewish immigrants, Marcus was the youngest of four siblings. He earned his degree in merchandising and marketing at Rutgers University and entered the retail industry, working for various chains.

He met Blank when they worked at Handy Dan Home Improvement, a chain in California. They were both fired after new management came in, so the duo hatched a plan to start a new chain that was bigger than traditional hardware stores with better trained staff. Then Home Depot was born.

Marcus was Home Depot’s CEO until 1997 and served as the company’s chairman until his retirement in 2002.

Home Depot started in Atlanta, a city where Marcus was a well-known philanthropist with his wife Billi. The couple started the Marcus Autism Center at Emory University, which helps children with developmental disabilities.

Marcus has also donated to numerous charities, Jewish and medical organizations, in addition to a $250 million grant that helped open the famed Georgia Aquarium in 2005.

“He was a master merchant and a retail visionary. But more importantly, he valued our employees, customers and communities above all,” the company said. “He has left us an invaluable legacy and the backbone of our company: our values.”

An outspoken Republican, Marcus has donated millions of dollars to the campaigns of right-wing politicians, including the late John McCain, current Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Trump.

Later in his life, he appeared frequently on right-wing television shows on Fox News and Fox Business, often speaking about his support for Trump’s presidential ambitions. Some Trump opponents tried to launch a boycott of The Home Depot in 2016 and in 2019 because of Marcus’ support for the Republican presidential candidate.

Marcus also said in 2022 in an interview with Financial Times that he was “worried about capitalism” and that because of what he called the spread of “socialism” in America, “nobody’s working. Nobody cares. ‘Just give it to me. Send me money. I don’t want work – I’m too lazy, I’m too fat, I’m too stupid.’

“We once had freedom of speech here. We don’t have that,” says Marcus to the newspaper. “The woke people have taken over the world. You know, I imagine today that they can’t attack me. I’m 93. Who’s wrong with Bernie Marcus?

This story has been updated with additional context and developments.