Monroe Milstein

In 1972, Monroe Milstein and his wife, Henrietta Milstein, ventured her savings as a Long Island teacher and transformed a former factory in Burlington, N.J., which they had bought for $675,000, into a mecca for busloads of frugal customers. By the time they had divested themselves of their family-run company, it was operating 367 stores in 42 states and had recorded sales of $3.2 billion annually. The Milsteins sold their shares for $1.3 billion. Milstein died on May 8 2025 at the age of 96. His wife Henrietta died in 2001. In addition to his grandson Samuel, his survivors include three sons from that marriage, Lazer, Andrew and Stephen Milstein; his wife, Judith (Kirshenbaum) Milstein, whom he married in 2003; five other grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren. He retired from the firm in 2005. The family took the firm public in 1983 and sold it to Bain Capital, an investment firm, in 2006.