Andrew Saks
June 5, 1847
April 8, 1912 (aged 64)
Retail businessman
Founder of department store Saks Fifth Avenue
Jennie Rohr
3
Biography[edit]
Saks was born to a German Jewish family, in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Helena and William Saks (born 1810 or -11, Kingdom of Bavaria).[2] He worked as a peddler and paper boy before moving to Washington, D.C., where he established a men's clothing store[3] with his brother Isadore[4] in 1867. In 1902, they opened a store in New York on 34th Street as Saks & Company. Saks ran the New York store as a family affair with his brother Isadore, and his sons Horace and William.
Personal life[edit]
Saks married Jennie Rohr with whom he had three children: sons, Horace Andrew Saks and William Andrew Saks; and daughter Leila Saks.[5] He died on April 9, 1912.[6][7] His daughter, Leila Saks Meyer (1886–1957), returning to attend her father's funeral, survived the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912 (five days after his death); her husband, Edgar J. Meyer, son of financier Marc Eugene Meyer and brother of publisher Eugene Meyer, perished.[6]
In 1923, his son Horace sold a majority interest in Saks & Company[3] to Gimbel Brothers, Inc. for $8 million which included Saks & Company's $4.5 million flagship store that was under construction; Horace Saks remained as president.[8] In 1924, Horace Saks and his cousin, Bernard Gimbel, opened Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City.