by Maria Halkias, staff writer for the Dallas News (with some minor modifications)
Richard Cantrell Marcus, who, as the last founding family member to run Dallas-based Neiman Marcus, led the company at a time of a major expansion outside Texas, died February 4, 2023, at his home in Austin from complications associated with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia at the age of eighty-four.
Richard, the chairman and CEO from 1979 to 1988, was one of only three family members to be the retailer’s chief executive, succeeding his father, Stanley Marcus. The luxury retailer was founded in 1907 by Stanley Marcus’ father, Herbert Marcus Sr., and aunt Carrie Marcus Neiman, along with her husband, A.L. Neiman.
“Richard was a power, a great contributor and a sweet man in the world outside of Neiman Marcus,” said Morton H. Meyerson, a longtime friend and former EDS and Perot Systems CEO. The Meyersons were in a couple’s group with Richard and his wife, Susan Russell Marcus, and they took annual hiking trips together for over 20 years.
Leonard Lauder, son of the Estee Lauder founders, said Richard did everything with class. “Richard stepped into his father’s shoes and he did an equitable job,” Lauder said. “Everything he did was thoughtful and direct. There were no smoke and mirrors.”
Richard’s daughter, Catherine Marcus Rose, speaking for her brother, Charles Marcus, said it was unusual for a father of his generation who also was a busy CEO to be “supportive, encouraging and respectful.” “My brother and I are extremely grateful to have had a father who was as encouraging and involved in our lives as he was in spite of his very full commitments to Neiman Marcus when we were growing up,” Rose said. “We always felt that he was our No. 1 cheerleader, and I understand he treated his work associates at the store, and in other endeavors, in the same way.”
Former executive Billy Payton, who worked under both father and son and watched Richard rise through the company, said Richard cut his own path. “He was a people person and a great leader who was always growing our executive talent and ran the company during our largest expansion years,” Payton said. “I spent a lot of years watching Richard, and being Stanley’s son was a great asset, but it was also his biggest challenge.”
Neiman Marcus had grown to 19 stores in nine states by the time Richard stepped down a year after the business, which at that point was owned by Los Angeles-based Carter Hawley Hale Stores, was spun off as a public company. It was 60% owned by General Cinema.
Richard’s tenure overlapped the last of the great Fortnights, huge celebrity-attended annual events that included a society gala and filled the downtown store with fashion, art and food representing other countries. Fortnights exposed shoppers to other cultures at a time when people didn’t travel like they do now.
The InCircle loyalty program, which started during Richard’s tenure, continues almost 40 years later. “InCircle was truly the first retail rewards program of any kind, and those customers became the most important customers to the company,” said Karen Katz, the Neiman Marcus CEO from 2010 to 2018. Richard was supportive in her early roles at the company, she said, and he was always innovative in how he thought about the business. They continued to stay in touch and, over annual lunches, Katz said he offered “wonderful insights and had such a good sense of humor about the business.”
Richard oversaw the luxury retailer’s first big catalog expansion with a 270,000-square-foot modern distribution and IT operation built in Las Colinas. He also kept the downtown Dallas store open as other department stores left in the 1980s.
Richard became a consultant and remained active in the retail industry. For more than 25 years, he was a senior adviser at Solomon Partners, previously known as PJ Solomon, an independent investment banking firm based in New York established by Harvard Class of 1960 classmate Peter J. Solomon. Richard joined Irving-based Zale Corporation’s board when the jewelry retailer was exiting Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1993 and became chairman and remained on the board until 2004. Richard was also on the board of Irving-based arts and crafts retailer Michaels Stores at the time it was sold in a leveraged buyout in 2006. In recent years, he lived in Austin, Texas. The past 10 years he was co-chairman of the board of The Contemporary Austin and worked with Breakthrough Central Texas.
Marcus was born and raised in Dallas and went to Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire for high school. He joined Neiman Marcus in 1962 after graduating with an A.B. in history in 1960 from Harvard College, where he was a member of Eliot House. Richard also participated in the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School in 1973.
He was born on October 2, 1938, to Stanley and Billie Marcus. He was preceded in death by his twin sister, Wendy Marcus Raymont, in 2019. Other survivors include his wife, Susan; sister Jerrie Marcus Smith of Dallas; grandsons Alex, Charlie and Jack Rose; granddaughter Sofia Lodato; and stepdaughters Cory Russell and Megan Russell.
Services are pending. The family requests that memorials be sent to The Contemporary Austin or Breakthrough Central Texas.
