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Stanley Marcus dies
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January 23, 2002: 10:48 a.m. ET
Guided department store chain for 50 years, molding it into luxury leader.
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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stanley Marcus, who turned Neiman Marcus from a frontier outpost into a national chain of luxury department stores, has died at the age of 96.
Marcus, who was widely credited with molding the image of the department stores co-founded by his father Herbert Marcus into symbols of high-end merchandise and customer service, died Tuesday in Dallas with family members at his side.
"Today we've lost an icon and patriarch in the business," Walter Loeb, publisher of the Loeb Retail Letter, told the Associated Press.
Marcus' father, aunt and uncle founded Neiman Marcus in 1907 in downtown Dallas. Its early customers included cowboys and housewives from rural outposts. After graduating from Harvard University, the 21-year-old Marcus took over as the company's secretary, treasurer and director in 1926.
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Stanley Marcus | |
He went on to become executive vice president, president, chairman of the board, chief executive officer and chairman of the executive committee. Marcus retired from the company in 1975 as chairman emeritus.
The store was a pioneer in the retail market. In the 1920s, it was the first to offer personalized gift wrapping and created the country's first weekly retail fashion show.
In 1960, he introduced a Christmas catalog offering unique "his-and-her" presents like submarines, hot air balloons and Egyptian mummy cases, a practice that continues today.
Neiman Marcus became the first retail apparel store outside New York to advertise in national fashion magazines. In 1953, Vogue described the store as "Texas with a French accent."
The Neiman Marcus Group (NMG.A: up $0.21 to $32.41, Research, Estimates), which includes Manhattan retailer Bergdorf Goodman, runs 32 Neiman Marcus stores around the United States.
Marcus is survived by his wife of 22 years, Linda Cumber Robinson Marcus; three children; 10 grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren. 
- from staff and wire reports
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