Co-Founder, The Home Depot and Job Creators Network
Philanthropist and public servant of the highest caliber, Bernie Marcus is co-founder of The Home Depot, Inc., the world’s largest home improvement retailer, and was chairman until his retirement in 2002.
He has redirected his entrepreneurial spirit toward charitable endeavors through The Marcus Foundation, which focuses on Jewish causes, children, medical research, free enterprise and the community.
Bernie’s contributions are given with the expectation that they will make a significant difference. They range from creating the Georgia Aquarium as a thank you to the associates, customers and shareholders of Atlanta and Georgia for the success of The Home Depot, which has attracted 22 million visitors since 2005, to an improved emergency and trauma center for the Grady Health System. Other grantees have included the Marcus Autism Center, the Marcus Nanotechnology Building at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and the Israel Democracy Institute in Jerusalem, a non-partisan and non-political think tank that deals with the complex issues facing the Israeli democratic society. The Foundation gifted the Piedmont Heart Institute in Atlanta to establish the nation’s first heart valve reference center; The Shepherd Center, for Project Share, to ensure that members of the military and veterans get diagnosed and cared for without financial constraint; and the Marcus Neuroscience Institute at Boca Raton Regional Hospital, an innovative nexus for neurologic and neurosurgical care.
In 2012, Bernie co-founded Job Creators Network (JCN), a nonpartisan organization formed to help stop harmful government policies from breaking the backs of small business owners and killing job creation. The best defense against bad government policies is a well-educated public, and JCN does this through targeted public, policymaker and employee education campaigns. Employers have the legal right, and Job Creators Network believes the obligation, to help employees “connect the dots” between bad government policies and the harmful impact on their job, pay, benefits and families. Bernie Marcus received the 2012 William E. Simon Award, given to “highlight the power of philanthropy to promote positive change.”
A native of Newark, New Jersey he received his B.S. degree in Pharmacy from Rutgers University.
*All biographical information is only current up to the date of the award.
