Beatrice Fox Auerbach

Beatrice Fox was born to a Jewish family[3] on July 17, 1887, in Hartford, Connecticut. Born to Moses and Theresa Fox, she was the eldest of two daughters. Her father Moses was the son of Gerson Fox, founder of the G. Fox and Co. department store in Hartford, CT; an enterprise of which she would later become the president. While Beatrice was well traveled and attended several schools, she did not obtain a degree.[4] After marrying George Auerbach in 1911, Beatrice moved to Salt Lake City where his family owned a department store.[4]

While Auerbach did not graduate from college, she was awarded honorary degrees at Trinity College, Wesleyan University, and Saint Joseph College.[2]

Auerbach took over her family business in 1938, after her father died. Under her leadership, G. Fox and Co. became the largest department store in America.[1] There, she commanded a workforce of 3-5,000 people at a time. Auerbach was a labor reform pioneer, instituting the five-day, 40-hour work week, retirement plans and paid sick leave.[2] She also gave interest-free loans to employees in crisis. As an executive, she revolutionized the industry with her free delivery service, telephone order service and automated billing. Auerbach also made it a priority to hire Black women and men to work in her store.[2] In 1939, she established the Moses Fox Club, named for her father.[2] This club gave membership to employees who had given 25 years of service to G. Fox and Co. Her generosity made her a well-loved boss, and she was known as “Mrs. A.” to her staff.[2] In addition to the Moses Fox Club, Auerbach invited employees to dine with her at the store’s cafeteria on their birthdays. Around the holidays, Auerbach was known to have walked the sales floor, shaking hands with each member of her staff and addressing each by their names.[2]

In addition to her full-time job, Auerbach also served on the board of trustees of the Hartford College for Women, the American School for the Deaf, and at Hebrew Union College, as well as being a delegate at the White House Conference on Education in 1955.[2]

Auerbach was dedicated to enriching not only the lives of her workers, but her community as well. With the wealth that she had accumulated from the success of G. Fox and Co., she founded the Beatrice Fox Auerbach Foundation, a charitable and educational organization dedicated to enriching the public "regardless of creed, sex, color, or race."[5] Through her foundation, Auerbach donated to organizations, hospitals, and institutions of higher education, and made contributions to St. Francis, Mt. Sinai, and Hartford hospitals, and to subsidized programs for the Hartford Symphony and Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art.[2] From 1938-1959, she worked with the Connecticut College for Women (now Connecticut College) in a retailing program. She found this to be important as one of the few women in her field at the time. In 1941, the foundation was poised to become a corporation. This move gained strong support from Secretary of State Chase Going Woodhouse, and was called "the solution to the problem" facing Hartford by Judge Elsner, who presided over this decision.[5] Four years later in 1945, Auerbach established the Service Bureau for Women's Organizations. The goal of this was to teach women how to coordinate activities, run meetings and be effective lobbyists.[6][5] On July 6, 1944, just one month after D-Day, the famous Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus fire occurred in Hartford, causing over 100 deaths and many serious injuries. Mrs Auerbach sent 500 sandwiches and 25 gallons of coffee to Municipal Hospital, which was overwhelmed with many casualties. Hearing that there was a shortage of bedding and night clothes, she also sent over a truckload of brand new sheets and pajamas the G Fox price tags still attached.[7]

Auerbach was on the board of Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati and won numerous awards such as the Tobe award for distinguished service by others in her industry, a certificate of lifetime membership in the NAACP, “Boss of the Year” from the Greater Hartford Jaycees, the Distinguished Public Service Award from the State Bar Association in 1962 and the Human Relations Award of the Connecticut-Western Massachusetts Region of the National Conference of Christians and Jews in 1964.[2]

The School of Business Administration at the University of Hartford named Auerbach Hall in her honor, the library at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art was renamed the Auerbach Art Library, and a new unit was built under her name at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, CT.[2]

Awards she received included:

• Tobé Award, given to a retailer who benefits their community and retailing nationwide (1947)
• “Boss of the Year” from the Greater Hartford Jaycees (1952)
• The Distinguished Public Service Award from the State Bar Association (1962)
• The Human Relations Award of the Connecticut-Western Massachusetts Region of the National Conference of Christians and Jews (1964).
• She also received posthumous induction into the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame.
• Recognition in other forms included honorary degrees at Trinity College, Saint Joseph College, and Wesleyan University.
• The School of Business Administration at the University of Hartford named Auerbach Hall in her honor
• The library at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art was renamed as the Auerbach Art Library