Maurice Goldblatt

Goldblatt was born to a Jewish family in Staszów, the son of Simon Goldblatt and Hannah Diamond.[2][3] His family immigrated to Chicago in 1905.[4] In 1914, he and his brother Nathan opened a general merchandise store in a Polish neighborhood in Chicago located at Chicago Avenue and Ashland Avenue.[2] Sales grew markedly from $15,000 in the first year to $1.4 million by 1915.[2] As a discount store, the company did well through the Great Depression and by 1933 had $20 million in sales with seven stores (5 in Chicago, 1 in Joliet, Illinois, and 1 in Hammond, Indiana).[2] At the end of World War II, the company had 15 stores and over 2,500 employees. In 1946, Maurice retired[4] and handed control to his younger brothers, Louis and Joel.[2] In the 1970s, Goldblatt's had $250 million in annual sales and 47 stores with over 8,000 employees in the Chicago area.[2]

In 1981, the company filed for Chapter 11 reorganization.[4] In 1985, it was bought by JG Industries Inc. and reduced to 15 Chicago-area stores.[2] In 2003, the company filed for Chapter 7 liquidation.[2]

In 1935, he married Bernice Goldblatt; they had two children, Stanford Goldblatt and Merle Goldblatt Cohen.[5] As his brother Nathan died of cancer in 1944, Maurice was a strong supporter of research to fight cancer and was seminal in establishing the University of Chicago Cancer Research Foundation in 1947; and donated $3.4 million facility to the University of Chicago Medical Center.[4]