One Year Without Bernie

It has been just over a year since the passing of Bernie Marcus, the co-founder of The Home Depot and a major philanthropic influence in this country. During the last 35 years, he was actively involved in giving away more than $2.7 billion.

And there’s much more to come. Bernie and his wife, Billi, who survives him, have committed to the foundation, the bulk of an estate that’s been estimated at $11 billion. The intention is that all that money will be spent over the next 20 years.

Piedmont Marcus Heart and Vascular Center, on the Piedmont Atlanta campus, is a leader in patient care that’s helped the Atlanta community get better and stay well for more than a century.

That means that the foundation’s board and staff will be pressed to increase and even double the most recent average year’s spending rate. Jay Kaiman, who has been president of the foundation for the last 17 years, says Bernie saw an even bigger role for his philanthropy after he was no longer here.

“He didn’t want us to get stuck. And we talked about that a lot. That’s one of the reasons we’re a 20-year spend down, to spend all that money during those years, not keep it any longer.”

Bernie took seriously the job of giving away all his money. Kaiman remembered how Marcus worked pretty much up to the last day of his life. He says Bernie never mentioned the word retirement. He was still at it until the week before he died, on Nov. 4 of last year at the age of 95.

Each year, leaders and institutions that have made an indelible impact on downtown Atlanta are awarded the Marcus Downtown Economic Impact Award. The award is named in honor of the enormous impact Bernie Marcus z”l and the Marcus Foundation has had on downtown Atlanta.

Kaiman recalls that last year as being very productive as he and Bernie worked on a series of new grants and a seamless transition into the future.

The foundation has concentrated its work in several areas, including health care and assistance for veterans. They recently announced $50 million in grants to help develop a computer-assisted program to restore normal speech to stroke patients. And they are at the forefront of the development of therapies based on the science of genetics.

One of the major areas of concern for Bernie during his lifetime was the nation of Israel and its role in Jewish life. One of his first grants, in 1989, was to establish the Israel Democracy Institute. It’s a think tank that still gets Bernie’s support, because it tackles the important issues of freedom and democracy that have become so critical in Israel today.

The Marcus Foundation has contributed $200 million to RootOne, which gives American Jewish teens a hands on experience of life in Israel.

One of the largest last grants Bernie signed off on was a major grant of $60 million for RootOne, an idea that grew out of his support over the years for the Birthright program. He was an early convert to the idea that Jewish young people had to be prepared while they were still teens for the challenges they would face as Jewish adults.

In the five years since its founding, RootOne has spent more than $200 million to help 15,000 Jewish youngsters from across America learn about Israel firsthand. Now, with the pandemic behind them and the war between Israel and its neighbors cooling, the program is poised to move ahead.

Kaiman believes that Jewish philanthropy played an important role in Bernie’s decision to make Atlanta the headquarters for The Home Depot in the late 1970s.

The home improvement superstores were still just an idea on paper when he came here from Los Angeles where he had been a prominent business executive. Despite his success, Bernie found the Jewish community on the West Coast had given him a frosty welcome.

The building, named in honor of Bernie and Billi Marcus, spans 48,000 square meters and is built to withstand earthquakes, missiles, and more. Three of the building’s six floors are built underground // Photo Credit: AFMD

That all changed when he visited Atlanta. The prominent philanthropist and businessman, Erwin Zaban, took him to an event sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta. According to Kaiman, that visit had an immediate impact.

“When Erwin took him to this event, everybody was friendly. And keep in mind Home Depot was just an idea that he and Arthur (Blank) had at the time. But he said he was amazed at how friendly everybody was. And so, in some ways, the Jewish community is what inspired Bernie to make this move to Atlanta.”

The landscape of the city today is filled with examples of his lasting impact. His gifts include the $280 million Georgia Aquarium, the large buildings bearing his name at Grady Hospital, Piedmont Hospital, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and the Shepherd Spinal Center as well as the Jewish Community Center in Dunwoody.

And yet, as Kaiman points out, getting his name on a building was not what Bernie Marcus was about.

Billi and Bernie Marcus have committed the bulk of their $4 billion fortune to improving the lives of others.

“We didn’t think a lot about just giving away money. We thought a lot about how to solve problems and build a culture for the future. We talked about how to make a difference.”

A wall outside a new Marcus center for genetic medicine in Atlanta quotes Bernie’s own words.

“It all comes down to one simple question: did I make anyone’s life better?”