Obituary: Discount department store founder Sumner L. Feldberg dies at 98
Sumner L. Feldberg, formerly of Palm Beach and founder of Zayre, BJ’S Wholesale Club and TJ Maxx, died Friday, July 1, 2022. He was 98.
Mr. Feldberg, who was known as “Sonny,” was born on June 19, 1924. He grew up in in the Boston suburb of Newton, Mass., and graduated from Newton High School.
He studied at Harvard, and during his freshman year enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. Trained as a meteorologist, he became a lieutenant and was first sent to Natal, Brazil, to give U.S. pilots weather reports for their missions to India, China and Africa.
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After his military service, Mr. Feldberg re-entered Harvard and finished his studies, graduating cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1947. He then enrolled in the first class of Harvard Business School when it reopened after World War II.
After graduation, Mr. Feldberg joined his father, uncle and cousin at the Bell Shops. Early on, he was interested in the concept of discount retailing. After observing the model of another discount merchandizing operation, Mr. Feldberg created his own. The first Zayre store opened in Hyannis, Mass.; it went public in 1962.
Mr. Feldberg went on to create a fashion catalogue called Chadwicks of Boston and started a women’s discount chain called Hit or Miss. He then founded BJ’s Wholesale Club and TJ Maxx. Eventually these stores fell under the parent company, TJX, which now also includes Home Goods, Home Sense, Marshalls, Sierra, Winners, Smart Sense, and TK Maxx in Europe and Australia. As of its most recent annual report, TJX has approximately 360,000 employees.
He was active on many corporate and university boards including Brandeis University, Boston University Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health, Beth Israel Leahy Clinic, Mass Mutual Insurance Co. and Combined Jewish Philanthropies. He also was on the National Retail Merchants Association board for 10 years and became its president for an additional five years.
Mr. Feldberg and his wife, Esther, were longtime members of the Washington Institute and the International Leadership Reunion.
Longtime island residents, they owned a condominium in Villa Plati and then a Palm Beach Regency-style house at 1020 N. Ocean Blvd. The couple moved to MorseLife nursing home in West Palm in 2021.
He was a member of Belmont Country Club, Queechee Country Club and The Palm Beach Country Club.
On the arts scene, The Collection of Esther M. and Sumner L. Feldberg was on display in 2021 at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by three children, Michael Feldberg and wife Ruth Lazarus, Ellen Feldberg Gordon and husband Michael, and Beth Lichter Mann; nine grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his daughter, Mollye Lichter Block, and son, James Lichter.
The Feldberg family is planning a Celebration of Life via Zoom for August. Memorial donations may be made to Facing History And Ourselves, 16 Hurd Road, Brookline, MA 02446.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Obituary: Sumner Feldberg, founder of BJ's, TJ Maxx, Zayre, dies at 98
