Bernie Marcus Leaves Lasting Legacy of Giving
The Jewish community and Israel's largest philanthropist patriarch died at 95 on Nov. 5. We can't even name all the lives he saved. More intimate coverage coming ...
Dave Schechter is a veteran journalist whose career includes writing and producing reports from Israel and elsewhere in the Middle East.
Bernie Marcus, the multi-billionaire co-founder of The Home Depot whose philanthropy extended beyond the Jewish community and the city of Atlanta, including to Israel, died Nov. 5, 2024, at his home in Boca Raton, Fla.
Born May 12, 1929, he was 95 years old.
A statement released by The Home Depot said: “The entire Home Depot family is deeply saddened by the death of our co-founder Bernie Marcus. We owe an immeasurable debt of gratitude to Bernie. He was a master merchant and a retail visionary. But even more importantly, he valued our associates, customers and communities above all. He’s left us with an invaluable legacy and the backbone of our company: our values.”
The Marcus Foundation, Inc. has been the primary vehicle through which Marcus and his wife of 50 years, Billi, have given $2 billion to more than 400 nonprofits over three decades. Their priorities have been Jewish causes, healthcare and medical research, children and youth development, free enterprise and veterans ’services, and community support.
Marcus started life with little but learned the lessons of philanthropy at a young age. The child of Russian Jewish immigrants grew up on the fourth floor of a tenement in a tough neighborhood in Newark, N.J. His father was a carpenter, “strong as an ox, a great craftsman but a terrible businessman,” Marcus told Philanthropy magazine in 2012.
“We lived in a tenement,” he told the magazine. “We had no money. Five cents was a major issue in our lives.” Marcus recalled that a nickel for ice cream was a special treat, though his mother would sometimes say, “We can’t have the ice cream today, we’re planting a tree in Israel instead,” and the nickel would be sent off, if not to Israel, then to one charitable cause or another. I grew up knowing that this is what you do. It’s bred into me.”
Marcus had hoped to become a doctor, but the eventual cost of medical school was prohibitive. He earned a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from Rutgers University and worked as a pharmacist before entering the discount store business.
After serving as president of O’Dell’s, a manufacturing conglomerate, Marcus became chairman and president of Handy Dan Home Improvement Centers, from 1972 to 1978.
It was there that he met Arthur Blank. Marcus and Blank were fired from Handy Dan in 1978. They then worked with investment banker Ken Langone to secure financing to create The Home Depot.
The first two Home Depot stores opened June 22, 1979, in the Atlanta area. The company has grown to more than 2,300 stores and employs nearly 500,000 people.
Marcus served as Home Depot CEO from 1978 to 1997 and then as board chair before retiring in 2002.
Forbes estimated Marcus’ current net worth to be $11 billion, while the Bloomberg Billionaire Index put his current net worth at $7.43 billion.
Those figures are a far cry from Marcus’ upbringing.
“My parents, an immigrant couple struggling to make ends meet in Newark, taught me that generosity was a universal imperative no matter one’s station in life. You gave – if not from your wallet then your time and talent. It’s why I was serving on boards of nonprofits when I couldn’t find two nickels to rub together,” he told the Atlanta Business Chronicle in 2019.
Marcus began to expand his reach when the life of a young Home Depot employee was saved by the City of Hope cancer center. “I went to [City of Hope] and said, ‘I want to join your board. ’I had never done anything with philanthropy before … and I didn’t have any money, but I worked diligently on that board,” Marcus said in a 2013 interview with The Bridgespan Group, an adviser on philanthropic issues.
In that interview Marcus said, “We came to Atlanta broke — broke! If the Home Depot didn’t make it, I was going to go into bankruptcy. We decided that we wanted to do something for the state of Georgia. We remembered the people that came and saved our lives.”
At the time of his 90th birthday, in 2019, friends and admirers pledged $90 billion to benefit four Atlanta-centered projects.
“None of the four – the Georgia Aquarium, the Grady Health System’s Marcus Stroke & Neuroscience Center, the Marcus Autism Center, and the SHARE Military Initiative at the Shepherd Center – would exist without Marcus,” Mike Leven, Marcus’ friend and then chair and CEO of the Georgia Aquarium, said at the time.
The Aquarium opened in 2005. Marcus, who provided an initial $250 million to fund construction, said that his favorite display was the whale shark, while his wife favored the beluga whales.
The Autism Center treats more than 5,500 children annually.
Marcus was among those partnering with actor Gary Sinise to launch the Gary Sinise Foundation Avalon Network to treat veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries, and substance abuse.
The Marcus Foundation’s donations to the Shepherd Center help pay for the housing, transportation, and costs for military personnel being treated there for brain or spinal injuries.
In October 2024, the Marcus Foundation announced plans to provide $25.9 million in underwrite research funding in a new surgical technique to improve survival rates for stroke patients. “Breakthroughs like this new approach for the deadliest form of stroke and others made by the stellar team at the Marcus Stroke and Neuroscience Center will save and change lives around the world for decades,” Marcus said.
Bernie and Billi Marcus have been members of The Temple since arriving in Atlanta for more than four decades.
He told Philanthropy magazine: “I’m proud of the fact that I’m Jewish and what happened with the Holocaust is not going to happen again if I can do anything about it.”
In Israel, Marcus donated $25 million to aid construction of the Marcus National Blood Services Center, the world’s first underground blood processing, testing, storage, and distribution facility. The grant was the largest-ever benefiting Magen David Adom, Israel’s national ambulance, blood-services and disaster-relief agency.
Marcus told the AJT in 2018:“ Having it in a safe and secure underground facility protects the blood transfusion supply from harm during missile attacks and earthquakes, ensuring availability of the blood Israelis need, when they need it.”
He also co-founded the Israel Democracy Institute, which bills itself as “an independent center of research and action dedicated to strengthening the foundations of Israeli democracy.”
Further proving their commitment to charity, Bernie and Billi Marcus were early signatories to The Giving Pledge, in which many of the world’s wealthiest people have pledged to donate their riches to philanthropies. The initiative was created by Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his then-wife, Melinda.
In a 2010 letter to Buffett, Marcus said that “it has always been my belief that leaving enormous wealth for our children does nothing to stimulate their ability to make it on their own.
“To make quarterly profits is one thing, but changing just one life is so much better … I hope you convince many others to enhance their own lives by sharing with others in a smart and business-like way. It truly is the secret to longevity of their health and state of mind,” Marcus said.
Marcus also was a major donor to conservative political causes (where Blank donated to Democrats). Forbes reported in August that Marcus donated more than $5 million in 2016 to political action committees supporting Donald Trump and $10 million in 2020. The magazine reported that Marcus and his wife had contributed $2.7 million to Trump’s 2024 campaign.
In addition to his wife, Billi, Marcus is survived by a son, Fred, of Atlanta; a stepson, Michael Morris, of Atlanta, who is owner of the Atlanta Jewish Times; and several grandchildren. A daughter, Susanne, predeceased her father.
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