Bernard Gimbel

Gimbel was born to Jewish parents, Rachel (née Feustman) and Isaac Gimbel,[2][3] son of Adam Gimbel, founder of the Gimbels chain of department stores.[2][4] In 1907, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania.[2] He started as a shipping clerk for his family's company and worked his way up to vice president in 1909.[2]

In 1910, Gimbel convinced his family to open a department store in New York City at the cost of $17 million ($425 million in 2013 dollars).[2] In 1922, he convinced his family to list Gimbels on the New York Stock Exchange although with the family maintaining a controlling interest.[2] In 1923, Gimbels purchased a controlling interest in Saks Fifth Avenue for $8 million from Horace Saks, son of Andrew Saks,[2] using the money from the Gimbel's stock issuance.[5] Also in 1923, Gimbels purchased the Kaufmann & Baer store in Pittsburgh (Kaufmann & Baer was founded by the cousins of the Kaufmann's department store also in Pittsburgh).[2] In 1924, he brought the Gimbels Thanksgiving Day Parade (which his family had sponsored in Philadelphia since 1920) to New York City.[2] After Horace Saks died in 1926, he appointed his cousin Adam Long Gimbel (son of Charles Gimbel, the husband of Sophie Gimbel).[5]

In 1926, Gimbel took over the company after his father was partially paralyzed after being thrown from a horse.[2] While president, he targeted his rival Macy's which was featured in the movie Miracle on 34th Street,[2] and expanded the Saks brand nationally.[2] In 1930, the company operated 20 stores with $123 million in sales ($1.7 billion in 2013 dollars), the largest department store chain in the world. Prior to World War II, Gimbel stocked up on consumer products he felt would be scarce if a war were to erupt, which paid off handsomely later.[2] In 1953, Gimbel retired handing control to his son Bruce Alva Gimbel; at the time, Gimbel's had $300 million in sales.[2]

Gimbels later was purchased by the Batus Retail Group and then the brand was retired in 1986.[2]

In 1912, Gimbel married 18 year old Alva Bernheimer; they had five children: Bruce Alva Gimbel; twins Peter Gimbel and David Gimbel; and twins Hope Gimbel and Caral Gimbel.[6] His daughter Hope was married and divorced from art collector David M. Solinger[7][8] (their daughter, Lynn Stern, a photographer married architect Robert A. M. Stern). His daughter Caral was married and divorced from Edward Lasker, son of Albert Lasker; and baseball superstar Hank Greenberg, before settling down with World War II hero Joseph M. Lebworth.[9][10][11] His son David Alva died of cancer at the age of 29.[12][13]

Gimbel died in 1966.[2] Services were held at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan.[14]

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