Fred Lazarus Jr.

{{Short description|American businessman (1884–1973)}} {{One source|date=October 2024}} {{Use American English|date=November 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Fred Lazarus Jr. | image = Fred Lazarus Jr. portraits - DPLA - 0b4879978ba0f0be1c60b14fa0374ba7 (page 1).jpg | birth_name = Fred R. Lazarus Jr. | birth_date = {{birth date|1884|10|29}} | birth_place = Columbus, Ohio, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1973|5|27|1884|10|29}} | death_place = Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. | known_for = Founder of Federated Department Stores | occupation = Store worker<br>Businessman<br>Retail Merchant | alma_mater = | relatives = Simon Lazarus (grandfather) | spouse = Meta Marx (until her death)<br> Celia Kahn Rosenthal | children = 4 including Maurice Lazarus | citizenship = }}

'''Fred R. Lazarus Jr.''' (October 29, 1884 – May 27, 1973) was an American retail merchant and one of the founders of Federated Department Stores, which became Macy's, Inc.

==Early life== Fred Lazarus Jr. was born to a Jewish family on October 29, 1884, the son of Rose (née Eichberg) and Fred Lazarus.<ref name=WhosWhoFredJr>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KM-7AAAAIAAJ&dq=Nancy+Stix&pg=PA760|first=Israel|last=Shamir|title=Who's who in Commerce and Industry, Volume 14|year=1965|pages=760 }}</ref>

Fred Lazarus Jr. briefly attended Ohio State University, but dropped out at the age of 18 to work full-time in the family's store.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2005-12-03 |title=laza122099 |url=http://www.cincypost.com/living/1999/laza122099.html |access-date=2025-05-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051203133327/http://www.cincypost.com/living/1999/laza122099.html |archive-date=3 December 2005 }}</ref> The F. & R. Lazarus & Co. store was founded in 1851 by his grandfather Simon Lazarus, a German-Jewish immigrant.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Federated Department Stores, Inc. |url=https://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/federated-department-stores-inc-history/#google_vignette |access-date=2025-05-14 |website=FundingUniverse |language=en}}</ref> The Lazarus family pioneered many retail firsts such as the concept of "one low price" (in which no bargaining was required); theirs was also the first department store with escalators and the first air conditioned store in the country.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Deitch |first=Linda |title=Beyond holiday reminiscing, Lazarus department store left its mark on how Americans shop |url=https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/2022/01/02/columbus-lazarus-department-store-retail-pioneer/9025355002/ |access-date=2025-05-28 |website=The Columbus Dispatch |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Businessman career== In 1928, F.&R. Lazarus & Co. purchased The John Shillito Company department store in Cincinnati.<ref name=":0" /> In the summer of 1929, months before the Wall Street crash of 1929, Lazarus met with Walter N. Rothschild from Abraham & Straus of Brooklyn and Louis E. Kirstein from Filene's of Boston on Rothschild's yacht<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/sim_forbes_1961-03-15_87_6 |title=Forbes 1961-03-15: Vol 87 Iss 6 |date=1961-03-15 |publisher=Forbes |others=Internet Archive |language=English}}</ref> in Long Island Sound. The three businessmen agreed to merge their stores and form Federated Department Stores,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Macy's, Inc. History - Macy's, Inc. |url=http://www.fds.com/pressroom/about/his_3.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071008222938/http://www.fds.com/pressroom/about/his_3.asp |archive-date=2007-10-08 |access-date=2025-05-28 |website=www.fds.com}}</ref> as a holding company of which "Mr. Fred" was the chairman. Bloomingdale's of New York joined in 1930. Under his leadership, Federated eventually became the largest department store company in the United States.<ref>{{Cite web |title=CONTENTdm |url=https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/ojc/id/27447 |access-date=2025-05-28 |website=ohiomemory.org}}</ref>

Fred Lazarus Jr. earned a reputation for innovation that made his family 'the first name in retail,' according to a 1961 ''Forbes'' article. In the late 1920s, 'Mr. Fred' instituted an administrative division of labor that placed department managers in charge of buying and selling all of the merchandise in their particular department. This brought a spirit of entrepreneurship to the individual departments in each store. In 1934, Lazarus revolutionized retail clothing sales when he adopted a French merchandising technique in which apparel was arranged according to size, rather than by color, price, or brand. The system became an industry standard. In 1939, Mr. Fred convinced President Franklin D. Roosevelt to move the Thanksgiving holiday to the fourth Thursday in November instead of the last Thursday in November that year. The calendar change extended the Christmas shopping season,<ref>{{Cite web |title=CONTENTdm |url=https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/ojc/id/27447 |access-date=2025-05-28 |website=ohiomemory.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Macy's, Inc. History - Macy's, Inc. |url=http://www.fds.com/pressroom/about/his_3.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071008222938/http://www.fds.com/pressroom/about/his_3.asp |archive-date=2007-10-08 |access-date=2025-05-28 |website=www.fds.com}}</ref> giving retailers more time to sell at their busiest time of year.

==Personal life== Lazarus married twice. In 1911, he married Meta Marx; she died in 1932.<ref name=WhosWhoFredJr /> They had four children, including Maurice Lazarus.<ref name=WhosWhoFredJr /> In 1935, he married Celia Kahn Rosenthal.<ref name=WhosWhoFredJr />

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20051015045144/http://www.fds.com/pressroom/about/his_2.asp Federated Department Stores Chronology] *{{cite news|url=http://www.cincypost.com/living/1999/laza122099.html|title=Lazaruses left lasting mark on city|first=Barry M|last=Horstman|work=The Cincinnati Post|publisher=E. W. Scripps Company|date=1999-12-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051203133327/http://www.cincypost.com/living/1999/laza122099.html|archive-date=2005-12-03}} Mentions Thanksgiving story.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lazarus, Fred}} Category:1884 births Category:1973 deaths Category:American businesspeople in retailing Category:20th-century American Jews Category:Businesspeople from Columbus, Ohio Category:American chief executives in retailing Category:20th-century American businesspeople