Herbert R. Gibson Sr., who launched a mercantile empire 50 years ago in Dallas and pioneered the concept of discount retail stores, died Tuesday after suffering a heart attack at Methodist Hospital.
Gibson, 84, was a strapping farm boy with a seventh-grade education who turned multimillionaire by practicing his philosophy of "stack 'em high and sell 'em low' at Gibson Discount Stores.
At the peak of his career, the family patriarch owned 550 Gibson Discount Stores in 38 states and three foreign countries, said his son-in-law, Bill Pepper of Dallas. Since Gibson divested his retail holdings to two of his sons in 1972, the number of Gibson stores has dwindled to 200, said Gibson's general counsel, Bob Bain.
Services for the Berryville, Ark., native are scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday at Highland Oaks Church Christ in North Dallas. Burial will be in Grove Hill Memorial Park in Dallas.
Gibson, a longtime Oak Cliff resident who moved to DeSoto in 1981, was hospitalized several weeks ago with a congestive heart ailment. He suffered a fatal heart attack about 10 p.m. Tuesday, Bain said.
Gibson and his wife, Belva, opened a small wholesale store in Dallas in 1935. Two decades later, Gibson opened his first discount store for the public in Abilene in 1957.
"At the time he did it, it was a novel concept by going directly to the public at wholesale prices,' Bain said. "He was a self-trained man and had a tremendous acumen to recognize a bargain.'
To promote the simultaneous opening of seven Dallas-area Gibson stores in 1966, Gibson and his associates shuttled among the stores in a fleet of six helicopters, a tactic that generated widespread publicity and huge sales receipts, Bain said.
Gibson was inducted into the Mass Merchandisers Hall of Fame and was honored by a handful of institutions, including Brandeis University in Masschusetts in 1970.
Between 90 and 100 people who owned Gibson Discount Store franchises became millionaires, Bain said.
Gibson also was a philanthropist who gave millions of dollars to institutions including Abilene Christian University, Baylor University in Waco, Texas, Harding College in Searcy, Ark., and York College in Nebraska.
Robert Lawrence, an associate English professor at York College who wrote Gibson's biography called This Man Gibson in 1974, said Gibson tapped his bargaining prowess while trading and selling livestock that his father gave him at age 11.
"His philosophy of life would have involved, "If you want something, you have to expect to work,' ' Lawrence said. "He had no tolerance for freeloaders.'
Gibson is survived by his wife, Belva; sons Richard Gibson of Longview, and H.R. Gibson Jr. and Gerald Gibson, both of Dallas; and two daughters, Polly Pepper of Pottsboro and Frances Robinson of Dallas.
Gibson, 84, was a strapping farm boy with a seventh-grade education who turned multimillionaire by practicing his philosophy of "stack 'em high and sell 'em low' at Gibson Discount Stores.
At the peak of his career, the family patriarch owned 550 Gibson Discount Stores in 38 states and three foreign countries, said his son-in-law, Bill Pepper of Dallas. Since Gibson divested his retail holdings to two of his sons in 1972, the number of Gibson stores has dwindled to 200, said Gibson's general counsel, Bob Bain.
Services for the Berryville, Ark., native are scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday at Highland Oaks Church Christ in North Dallas. Burial will be in Grove Hill Memorial Park in Dallas.
Gibson, a longtime Oak Cliff resident who moved to DeSoto in 1981, was hospitalized several weeks ago with a congestive heart ailment. He suffered a fatal heart attack about 10 p.m. Tuesday, Bain said.
Gibson and his wife, Belva, opened a small wholesale store in Dallas in 1935. Two decades later, Gibson opened his first discount store for the public in Abilene in 1957.
"At the time he did it, it was a novel concept by going directly to the public at wholesale prices,' Bain said. "He was a self-trained man and had a tremendous acumen to recognize a bargain.'
To promote the simultaneous opening of seven Dallas-area Gibson stores in 1966, Gibson and his associates shuttled among the stores in a fleet of six helicopters, a tactic that generated widespread publicity and huge sales receipts, Bain said.
Gibson was inducted into the Mass Merchandisers Hall of Fame and was honored by a handful of institutions, including Brandeis University in Masschusetts in 1970.
Between 90 and 100 people who owned Gibson Discount Store franchises became millionaires, Bain said.
Gibson also was a philanthropist who gave millions of dollars to institutions including Abilene Christian University, Baylor University in Waco, Texas, Harding College in Searcy, Ark., and York College in Nebraska.
Robert Lawrence, an associate English professor at York College who wrote Gibson's biography called This Man Gibson in 1974, said Gibson tapped his bargaining prowess while trading and selling livestock that his father gave him at age 11.
"His philosophy of life would have involved, "If you want something, you have to expect to work,' ' Lawrence said. "He had no tolerance for freeloaders.'
Gibson is survived by his wife, Belva; sons Richard Gibson of Longview, and H.R. Gibson Jr. and Gerald Gibson, both of Dallas; and two daughters, Polly Pepper of Pottsboro and Frances Robinson of Dallas.
Herbert R. Gibson Sr., who launched a mercantile empire 50 years ago in Dallas and pioneered the concept of discount retail stores, died Tuesday after suffering a heart attack at Methodist Hospital.
Gibson, 84, was a strapping farm boy with a seventh-grade education who turned multimillionaire by practicing his philosophy of "stack 'em high and sell 'em low' at Gibson Discount Stores.
At the peak of his career, the family patriarch owned 550 Gibson Discount Stores in 38 states and three foreign countries, said his son-in-law, Bill Pepper of Dallas. Since Gibson divested his retail holdings to two of his sons in 1972, the number of Gibson stores has dwindled to 200, said Gibson's general counsel, Bob Bain.
Services for the Berryville, Ark., native are scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday at Highland Oaks Church Christ in North Dallas. Burial will be in Grove Hill Memorial Park in Dallas.
Gibson, a longtime Oak Cliff resident who moved to DeSoto in 1981, was hospitalized several weeks ago with a congestive heart ailment. He suffered a fatal heart attack about 10 p.m. Tuesday, Bain said.
Gibson and his wife, Belva, opened a small wholesale store in Dallas in 1935. Two decades later, Gibson opened his first discount store for the public in Abilene in 1957.
"At the time he did it, it was a novel concept by going directly to the public at wholesale prices,' Bain said. "He was a self-trained man and had a tremendous acumen to recognize a bargain.'
To promote the simultaneous opening of seven Dallas-area Gibson stores in 1966, Gibson and his associates shuttled among the stores in a fleet of six helicopters, a tactic that generated widespread publicity and huge sales receipts, Bain said.
Gibson was inducted into the Mass Merchandisers Hall of Fame and was honored by a handful of institutions, including Brandeis University in Masschusetts in 1970.
Between 90 and 100 people who owned Gibson Discount Store franchises became millionaires, Bain said.
Gibson also was a philanthropist who gave millions of dollars to institutions including Abilene Christian University, Baylor University in Waco, Texas, Harding College in Searcy, Ark., and York College in Nebraska.
Robert Lawrence, an associate English professor at York College who wrote Gibson's biography called This Man Gibson in 1974, said Gibson tapped his bargaining prowess while trading and selling livestock that his father gave him at age 11.
"His philosophy of life would have involved, "If you want something, you have to expect to work,' ' Lawrence said. "He had no tolerance for freeloaders.'
Gibson is survived by his wife, Belva; sons Richard Gibson of Longview, and H.R. Gibson Jr. and Gerald Gibson, both of Dallas; and two daughters, Polly Pepper of Pottsboro and Frances Robinson of Dallas.
Gibson, 84, was a strapping farm boy with a seventh-grade education who turned multimillionaire by practicing his philosophy of "stack 'em high and sell 'em low' at Gibson Discount Stores.
At the peak of his career, the family patriarch owned 550 Gibson Discount Stores in 38 states and three foreign countries, said his son-in-law, Bill Pepper of Dallas. Since Gibson divested his retail holdings to two of his sons in 1972, the number of Gibson stores has dwindled to 200, said Gibson's general counsel, Bob Bain.
Services for the Berryville, Ark., native are scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday at Highland Oaks Church Christ in North Dallas. Burial will be in Grove Hill Memorial Park in Dallas.
Gibson, a longtime Oak Cliff resident who moved to DeSoto in 1981, was hospitalized several weeks ago with a congestive heart ailment. He suffered a fatal heart attack about 10 p.m. Tuesday, Bain said.
Gibson and his wife, Belva, opened a small wholesale store in Dallas in 1935. Two decades later, Gibson opened his first discount store for the public in Abilene in 1957.
"At the time he did it, it was a novel concept by going directly to the public at wholesale prices,' Bain said. "He was a self-trained man and had a tremendous acumen to recognize a bargain.'
To promote the simultaneous opening of seven Dallas-area Gibson stores in 1966, Gibson and his associates shuttled among the stores in a fleet of six helicopters, a tactic that generated widespread publicity and huge sales receipts, Bain said.
Gibson was inducted into the Mass Merchandisers Hall of Fame and was honored by a handful of institutions, including Brandeis University in Masschusetts in 1970.
Between 90 and 100 people who owned Gibson Discount Store franchises became millionaires, Bain said.
Gibson also was a philanthropist who gave millions of dollars to institutions including Abilene Christian University, Baylor University in Waco, Texas, Harding College in Searcy, Ark., and York College in Nebraska.
Robert Lawrence, an associate English professor at York College who wrote Gibson's biography called This Man Gibson in 1974, said Gibson tapped his bargaining prowess while trading and selling livestock that his father gave him at age 11.
"His philosophy of life would have involved, "If you want something, you have to expect to work,' ' Lawrence said. "He had no tolerance for freeloaders.'
Gibson is survived by his wife, Belva; sons Richard Gibson of Longview, and H.R. Gibson Jr. and Gerald Gibson, both of Dallas; and two daughters, Polly Pepper of Pottsboro and Frances Robinson of Dallas.
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