By Maxine Shapiro, KERA 90.1 Commentator
Dallas, TX – Today Dallas, along with the world, says goodbye to one of its own. I'm Maxine Shapiro with KERA Marketplace Middays. At 2 PM this afternoon, the public memorial service for Mr. Stanley H. Marcus will begin. No doubt, it will be a full house of Who's Who in Dallas. Stanley Marcus was not just an icon in the retail world. He brought flavor and transformation to the Dallas community.
Stanley was only two years old when his father, Herbert Marcus Sr., his aunt and uncle opened the doors to Neiman-Marcus in 1907. What an image. Of course they didn't have plastic butterflies floating along an escalator, like at Willowbend Mall, but Dallas was a youthful city. I talked to Gerry Cristol, author of "A Light in the Prairie," a book about the history of Jews in Dallas. Ms. Cristol informed me that when the railroads came in 1872, Jews - including Herbert Marcus - came along with everybody else. In fact, it was Herbert that founded Temple Emanu-El on Hillcrest, now the fourth largest reform synagogue in the country.
So little Stanley grew up, graduated from Harvard, and returned to begin his retail revolution. They always say, "in business, find your niche," and Mr. Marcus did. High-end, very expensive stuff. And did he know how to sell it. To this day, the Neiman-Marcus Christmas catalogue is literally in a class by itself. For most of us, it's a dream, but it's the American dream.
By all accounts, Stanley Marcus was not happy with just overseeing his retail store. His roots were in North Texas, and he evidently didn't like what he was seeing. He became a crusader for social change, a vocal humanitarian, and financial supporter of the arts. Some people have said he's probably one of the reasons Dallas is called the "Big D." I'm sorry I never got to personally meet Mr. Marcus. But the one time I saw him walk into a room, he lit it up so brightly that there wasn't a being in the room that wasn't smiling. Mr. Marcus, you'll be missed. For KERA Marketplace Middays, I'm Maxine Shapiro.
Marketplace Midday Reports air on KERA 90.1 Monday - Friday at 1:04 PM.