Inspirational Quotes by Bernard F. Gimbel (American Businessman)

Bernard Feustmann Gimbel (1885–1966) was an American businessman and president 1926–53 of his family’s Gimbels department store.

Born in Vincennes, Indiana, Gimbel was the grandson of founder Adam Gimbel, a Jewish Bavarian immigrant. Bernard graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1907, started as a shipping clerk for his family’s company, and worked his way up to vice president in 1909.

In 1910, Gimbel convinced his family to expand the family’s successful stores in the Midwest by opening a department store in New York City. In 1922, he convinced his family to list Gimbels on the New York Stock Exchange. He used the proceeds to purchase a controlling interest in Pittsburgh’s Saks Fifth Avenue and the Kaufmann & Baer store. In 1927, he was named president of the concern, a post he held until 1953, when he was named chairman of the board.

Under Gimbel’s leadership, the Gimbel Brothers Department Stores grew from $15 million to $500 million in sales. He supervised the addition of new stores in New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Milwaukee and Saks branches in Chicago, Detroit, Beverley Hills, and San Francisco. In 1930, the company operated 20 stores; it was the largest department store chain in the world. (A British American Tobacco unit later purchased Gimbels, and retired the brand in 1986.)

Gimbel also was a distinguished civic figure. He helped organize the New York City’s World Fairs in 1939 and 1964–65. He was also the sponsor of the Gimbels Thanksgiving Day Parade and contributed to several institutions.

Gimbel is featured in Leon Harris’s Merchant Princes: An Intimate History of Jewish Families Who Built Great Department Stores (1982.)

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