Bernie Marcus

Bernard Marcus was born in 1929 in Newark, New Jersey, to a family of Russian Jewish immigrants. He earned a pharmacy degree from Rutgers University but pivoted toward retail management, eventually rising to become CEO of Handy Dan Home Improvement Centers in Los Angeles. His firing from Handy Dan in 1978, orchestrated by turnaround executive Sandy Sigoloff, became the catalytic event that led directly to Home Depot's founding. Marcus served as Home Depot's co-chairman and chief executive from 1978 until 2000, overseeing the company's growth from two stores to approximately 1,100 locations and from zero to nearly $46 billion in annual revenue.

Bernie Marcus is the co-founder and first chief executive of The Home Depot, Inc., widely recognized as one of the transformative figures in American retail history. Born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1929, Marcus developed his retail philosophy through years in the hardware and home improvement industry, including his tenure as CEO of Handy Dan Home Improvement Centers. His central conviction—that ordinary homeowners could be empowered to tackle ambitious renovation projects if given the right products, prices, and expertise—drove every aspect of Home Depot's founding design. Under his leadership from 1978 to 2000, Home Depot became one of the fastest-growing companies in American corporate history, expanding from two Atlanta stores to a national retail phenomenon. After retiring from active management, Marcus remained a prominent philanthropist, donating hundreds of millions of dollars to institutions including the Georgia Aquarium and the Marcus Autism Center in Atlanta. He is the author, with Arthur Blank, of the memoir Built from Scratch, which remains one of the most widely read accounts of entrepreneurial retail success in America.