The company announced Marcus’s death on its website, calling him “a master merchant and a genius with customer service” who was “unparalleled in generosity and goodwill.”

With co-founder Arthur Blank and the financial help of investment banker Kenneth Langone, Marcus established Atlanta-based Home Depot in 1978 and set the standard for selling to the do-it-yourself crowd, focusing on service, marked-down prices and how-to lessons.

Marcus served 19 years as Home Depot’s first chief executive officer and was chairman of the board from 1978 until his retirement in 2002. Blank retired from the company in 2001 after serving as president, CEO and co-chairman.

“We believed from the start that if we brought the customer quality merchandise at the right price and offered excellent service, we could change retailing in the US,” Marcus said for a 2008 Entrepreneur magazine article. “Today, we are the model of what retailing should be.”

Marcus had a net worth of $7.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Stock Options

The two founders, Marcus and Blank, turned longtime store employees into millionaires through stock options, which were introduced as part of their philosophy of treating co-workers well to gain their loyalty. The company has about 475,000 employees, known as associates, at about 2,300 stores,  source