Bruce Nordstrom, a retail executive who helped build his family’s Pacific Northwest department store chain into a luxury national brand, has died.
Seattle-based Nordstrom Inc. said the former chairman died at his home on Saturday. He was 90.
“Our father leaves behind a powerful legacy as a legendary business leader, a generous community citizen and a loyal friend,” said a statement from his sons, Nordstrom CEO Erik Nordstrom and Pete Nordstrom, the company’s president.
The chain traces its origins to a Seattle shoe store opened by Swedish immigrant John Nordstrom and a partner in 1901.
Patrick MacLeod/Footwear News/Penske Media via Getty Images
Bruce Nordstrom and other members of the third generation took over leadership in 1968. They took the company public in 1971 and expanded its presence in the US, while also launching the lower-priced Nordstrom Rack stores.
Bruce Nordstrom stepped down from his leadership role in 1995 when the third generation passed control to the fourth. In 2006, he retired as chairman of Nordstrom’s board of directors.
He was one of several Nordstrom family members who attempted to take the company private in 2017, proposing to buy out the 70% of the department store’s shares they did not already own. Those talks collapsed in 2018, but earlier this year his sons restarted a series of buyout negotiations.
In addition to two sons, Nordstrom’s survivors include his wife Jeannie, his sister and fellow philanthropist Anne Gittinger, and seven grandchildren.
