Remembering Bernie Marcus – a one-of-a-kind business leader and philanthropist

Now I can finally tell one of my favorite stories about Bernie Marcus, who died Monday, Nov. 4 at the age of 95.

The setting was in Maui in early 1992, when the Home Depot had gathered all its executives and store managers along with their spouses and significant others to celebrate the fast-growing Atlanta-based company hitting $5 billion in sales.

Marcus and his co-founder Arthur Blank did a session specifically for the spouses and significant others to help them feel a part of Home Depot’s amazing success.

“This business can be really hard on relationships,” Marcus told the gathering of several hundred people. “See my partner Arthur, he is going through a divorce right now,” Marcus said pointing to Blank.

Then Marcus shared the secret of how he and his wife Billi had managed to keep their marriage strong.

“Every night when I’m at home, we get into the hot-tub totally naked and talk about what’s going on,” Marcus shared. “There’s something about sitting naked across from your spouse, you are exposed and unguarded. You tell the truth to each other.”

During the service for Marcus at the Temple on Nov. 7, at least two people referred to the Bernie-Billi baths, but with less detail than what Marcus told us in Maui.

For me, that story symbolizes the humanity of both Marcus and Blank. Both men had created a culture at the Home Depot where their employees were called associates. It was part of the inverted pyramid – where frontline employees were at the top of the pyramid while the top executives were at the bottom.

During the 1990s, I had the good fortune to witness the Bernie and Arthur show on multiple occasions. During those years, Home Depot had the best annual meetings, attracting thousands of shareholders, associates (who were also shareholders), customers and people advocating for various causes. 

I have described those annual meetings, some that lasted almost four hours, as therapy sessions. Bernie and Arthur injected humor and emotions as they listened to people’s complaints, suggestions and praises. I remember one older shareholder complaining that the stores were so big that Home Depot should provide places where shoppers could sit. The next year, she came back and thanked the co-founders for putting benches in her store.

Marcus and Blank often said they learned what not to do from Sandy Sigoloff. In 1978, Marcus was CEO and Blank was vice president of Handy Dan, that was controlled by investor Sigoloff, who fired them both the same day. That’s when they hatched the plan for Home Depot with financier Ken Langone.

I remember Bernie receiving a large crystal pillar award one year, and he dedicated it to Sigoloff, saying he wanted to ram the award up his behind (but he used a word that begins with “a”).

Covering Marcus and Blank was never boring, and both men were amazing storytellers who could share insights on their amazing run at Home Depot.

In 1997, Blank became CEO and Marcus became chair of the company. The challenge then was to groom someone who could succeed Blank and run the company. Marcus told me at the time that because Home Depot had paid its top executives mainly with stock, they had all become so rich that none of the top leaders wanted to become CEO.

That’s when the company realized it would have to go outside to find someone to run the company. Langone and other Home Depot board members also were on the board of General Electric, which was undergoing its own search for someone to succeed Jack Welch. It had three internal candidates, and Home Depot board members decided they would go after one of the GE executives who was not selected to become Welch’s successor. 

That’s how the company settled on Bob Nardelli, who was offered the position of president and COO in the fall of 2000. The plan had been for someone to work with Blank, who would remain as CEO, for a couple of years. But Nardelli refused to take the Home Depot job unless he was the CEO. Blank agreed to step down and become co-chairman of Home Depot, a move embraced by Langone and Marcus. Three months later Blank resigned as co-chairman and from the board with Marcus offering an explanation that it was hard to have two chiefs at the company.

The Nardelli era at Home Depot has been well-documented as a time that almost destroyed the special Home Depot culture. For example, Nardelli referred to the employees as “aprons” instead of “associates,” and the stores as “plants.” Nardelli also tried to erase the history of the founders at the “Store Support Center,” a facility most companies would call the corporate headquarters.

Nardelli really lost support of his board and others in 2006 when he decided to hold Home Depot’s annual meeting in Delaware, where he was the only director to attend and when he took no questions from shareholders. What a 180 difference from how the co-founders ran the company.

The night of that fateful annual meeting, I happened to be at a Jewish dinner, I think it was for Israeli bonds, where Marcus was speaking. I asked his reaction to the Nardelli annual meeting. “Un-be-liev-able,” Marcus said off the record while emphasizing every syllable.

Nardelli was gone by the next January, replaced by Frank Blake, who went on to restore the original Home Depot culture. On his first day as CEO, Blake called Marcus and Blank to welcome them back into the fold.

By that time, Marcus had become a major philanthropist. In fact, in 1998, he was named Georgia Philanthropist of the Year. One of the sad ironies was that Marcus’ service was held at 1 p.m., at the same time as the 2024 Philanthropist of the Year lunch. Not only that, it just so happened the lunch was held at the Georgia Aquarium, the house that Bernie built. Fortunately, the lunch included a prolonged memory of silence for both Marcus and Brian Davis, CEO of the aquarium, who died unexpectedly in August. 

The story of the Georgia Aquarium was also full of intrigue. Marcus decided he wanted to give back to Atlanta and Georgia. He initially considered helping build a new symphony hall, but Marcus changed his mind when the Atlanta Symphony parted ways with the music director Yoel Levi, a close friend of his.

Instead, Marcus decided he wanted to build an aquarium for Georgia. First, he was considering building it at Atlantic Station near Northside Drive.

A.J. Robinson, then an executive at Portman Properties and chair of the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District, started working behind the scenes to get Marcus to consider downtown, something he had initially dismissed.

The Coca-Cola Co. (under the leadership of CEO Doug Daft and Coke board member Jimmy Williams, then CEO of SunTrust) agreed to donate land for the aquarium just north of Centennial Olympic Park.

A few months after that announcement, Robinson invited Marcus to his office, then on the 46^th floor of Portman’s SunTrust Plaza.

“Bernie came and saw the fantastic view,” Robinson said in an interview, remembering showing Marcus the recently selected downtown site versus the Atlantic Station site.

“He kept looking back and forth between the two sites,” Robinson said. 

“Boy, I really almost screwed up, didn’t I?” Marcus said.

One of my favorite stories was when Marcus came to speak to the Rotary Club of Atlanta in May 2001. Marcus told the club how he thought Blank was nuts to suggest launching the Home Depot from Atlanta. “There was nothing but trees,” Marcus said laughingly, not realizing there actually were people living in the growing metro area. 

Marcus also joked about having just gone to Blank’s retirement party. “This is the first time I’ve been to a retirement party where the person retiring is expecting twins.”

Then he explained how they chose orange to be Home Depot’s corporate color. “It was an obnoxious color,” Marcus said. “Nobody liked orange. It was almost offensive in those days.”

Stories about Marcus are endless – especially with all his philanthropic endeavors. I remember when he called me in 2010 to say the Marcus Center and the Georgia Research Alliance had just attracted a top autism researcher – Ami Klin – to move from Yale to Atlanta.

At the time, Marcus told Klin: “You have something here that you are not going to find anywhere else in the world, not at Yale, not anywhere. I can’t imagine you would not take this job. The only way you turn us down is if you are a schmuck.”

At the Marcus service last week, Klin told me he decided to come to Atlanta because he didn’t want to be a schmuck.

That was Bernie Marcus, a man who spoke his mind. Blank said that although they had strong political differences, there were always friends who were able to discuss issues.

In fact, the service showed that Marcus was revered by folks on both sides of the aisle. Republican Gov. Brian Kemp spoke of how Marcus was a repairer of the world. And Democratic Mayor Andre Dickens also attended the standing-room only service at the Temple.

In honor of Marcus’ life, Delta Air Lines CEO wrote a post on social media saying the airline was making a $1 million contribution to the Grady Health Foundation. Coca-Cola also said it would be making a gift to Grady in memory of Marcus. The city has come out in force to honor the Home Depot co-founder and philanthropist.

Although Marcus has died, he and Billi will continue giving away their wealth – multiple billions of dollars – over the next 20 years. And yes, Atlanta, Georgia and the rest of the world will continue to benefit from Bernie Marcus and his love for humanity.