Burt Tansky, whose management roles at Saks Fifth Fifth, Bergdorf Goodman and most importantly the Neiman Marcus Group earned him the industry-wide fame as “Mr. Luxurious,” died Sunday morning after a bout with most cancers. Tansky was 87.
Tansky acquired his first job at age 12, labored for 60 years straight and retired 15 years in the past at age 72. His 49 years in retailing took him cross nation, along with his earlier years spent at department shops comparable to Kaufmann’s and Filene’s earlier than rising to run America’s foremost luxurious shops. He served as president of Saks Fifth Avenue, chief government officer of Bergdorf Goodman, and CEO of Neiman Marcus, finally being promoted to president and CEO of all the Neiman Marcus Group, which included Bergdorf’s and Horchow.
It was at Neiman Marcus Group the place Tansky actually made his mark and established his fame as Mr. Luxurious, catapulting the shop because the world’s main arbiter of luxurious, assiduously catering to the world’s richest. Tansky was additionally a mentor to many, maintained a agency however caring strategy to these he managed, and in entrance of an viewers, be it at a fundraiser or award ceremony, would heat up the group along with his wit.
He was additionally among the many earliest believers within the web as a viable channel for promoting luxurious at a time when the {industry} was filled with doubt. However he relished being in shops, watching the promoting motion and interplay between clients, gross sales associates and the merchandise. Whereas touring Neiman’s Northpark retailer in Dallas years in the past, he informed WWD, “I’m a shoe canine,” as he admired a $2,300 Christian Louboutin above-the-knee boot with a zipper. “It’s wonderful. It zips down all the way in which to the heel. I guess you we’ll promote all of the Louboutin.”
Most of Tansky’s 14 years operating Neiman’s was marked by great development, although when the Nice Recession hit in 2008 enterprise turned difficult.
Karen Katz and Burt Tansky
Steve Eichner
“Burt was a exceptional mentor. He was so good to me,” mentioned Karen Katz, who succeeded Tansky as CEO after he retired in 2010. “He had such good direct suggestions. He made me a greater service provider and a greater chief.
“Considered one of issues that made him so distinctive was that he knew he couldn’t run an organization with out robust ladies and men round him, however he additionally knew there needed to be a stability of their lives, notably with girls if that they had children. He enabled individuals to have a private life.”
On his first day on the job as Neiman’s CEO in 1996, he met Katz on the Northpark retailer in Dallas the place she was the overall supervisor on the time.
“We walked the shop collectively. We instantly clicked,” Katz recalled. “He had a means of connecting with individuals. He may get up in entrance of any group and inform humorous tales. Despite the fact that he appeared buttoned up in his Brioni fits and Charvet ties, he made individuals really feel very a lot relaxed round him. When males walked into his workplace, he would shake their fingers, then flip their ties to see in the event that they have been from Neiman Marcus. In the event that they weren’t, he would ship somebody all the way down to get some Neiman Marcus ties, and promote them the ties. He was at all times doing issues like that..He united his workforce, the designers, and the purchasers on a imaginative and prescient that there have been no limits to luxurious. I don’t know who got here up with that title Mr. Luxurious for Burt, nevertheless it actually caught.”
“Burt was a like a second father to me. He’s been in my life for 25 years,” mentioned Brendan Hoffman, the previous CEO of Wolverine Worldwide, Vince, Lord & Taylor and neimanmarcus.com, and now cofounder and CEO of P180. “Burt was a job mannequin personally and professionally. I spoke with him recurrently, and up till his final day he was at all times fascinated about my life and my household and the way he may assist. He was one-of-a-kind.”
Tansky gave Hoffman his large break, making him CEO of Neiman Marcus Direct in 2002. “Burt noticed one thing in me. He thought I used to be the precise particular person for taking this fledgling e-commerce enterprise on a brand new path. However he additionally at all times made positive I left in dinner time,” Hoffman mentioned.
He recalled that 20 years in the past, “Burt, myself and Jeff Bezos have been in a gathering when Amazon was attempting to interrupt into luxurious, and Burt mentioned, ‘I’ve numerous rich mates they usually all store on Amazon.’ Burt had the foresight to acknowledge the altering shopper, and to see that luxurious would work on e-commerce. After I left Neiman’s to change into CEO of Lord & Taylor in 2008, we talked each week. He would nonetheless press me on enterprise and alternatives to drive extra gross sales.
“Burt beloved retail. He beloved the motion in shops,” Hoffman added. “Whether or not it was Neiman’s or TJMaxx, he beloved seeing how shoppers have been reacting to the merchandise and the gross sales associates.”
“Burt was the quintessential “retailers’ service provider,” mentioned Muriel Gonzalez, the president of The Vitamin Shoppe, and a former Bergdorf’s and Saks government. “He at all times raised the bar on how excessive is excessive. He beloved each class of product – image frames, perfume, purses, sneakers, or designer attire. He was obsessed with driving enterprise but additionally about all of the individuals who turned his mates within the enterprise. Intensely curious, he led the way in which for therefore many. I treasure the time I had with him as a younger service provider at Saks, then later at Bergdorf Goodman. He was a wonderful instructor.”
Tansky was the recipient of quite a few {industry} awards and honors, amongst them the Gold Medal Award from the Nationwide Retail Federation, and he was appointed as a Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur by the French authorities for his help of French manufacturers. He was additionally very energetic in charitable and group causes, together with Jupiter Hospital and Most cancers Middle in Florida, Temple Judea in Palm Seaside Gardens, and The College of Pittsburgh, which he graduated from.
Tansky was the son of Harry and Jeannette Tansky, immigrants who escaped spiritual persecution and settled in Pittsburgh, Pa. His father was a hair dresser and his mom, a homemaker. He’s survived by his spouse Rita; youngsters Hyla and Michael; his son-in-law Eric Weiss; daughter-in-law, Ellen; his sister Eva Blum and her husband Norman Wolmark, and three grandchildren.
A funeral service shall be held Tuesday at 10 a.m. at Temple Judea, 4311 Hood Highway in Palm Seaside Gardens, Fla.
