Alexander Farkas

Alexander S. Farkas, who helped build Alexander's department stores into the place where New Yorkers went to get stylish fashions for a bargain and then watched as the chain went bankrupt, died in July 1999 in his home in Highland Park, Fla. He was 69. The cause was cancer, his brother, Robin Farkas, said. The chain was founded in 1928 by Mr. Farkas' father, George, who named both his business and his son after his father. His strategy was to offer fashions and housewares that were then the exclusive province of full-service department stores at cut- rate prices by getting rid of frills like fancy decor and free alterations. In its heyday in the 1930s, the Alexander's flagship store at Fordham Road and the Grand Concourse in the Bronx served a grateful cash-strapped immigrant population and boasted more sales per square foot than any other retailer in the country. Alexander Farkas, who was known as Sandy, was born in New York City. He was educated at Choate School and the Bronx High School of Science, After growing up on the West Side of Manhattan, he attended the University of Chicago and received a master's degree in business from Cornell University. Farkas joined the family business right out of school as a dress department manager. He took over the helm from his father in 1959. In addition to the Manhattan store, he added sites in Queens, Brooklyn, New Jersey and Connecticut. Farkas is survived by his wife, Linda Saltzman Farkas, his children, Cindy, Georgette and Alexander, and his brothers, Robin, Bruce and Jonathan.