Entrepreneur. He was the son of the German Jewish immigrant peddler, Adam Gimbel, the founder of the original Gimbel's Department Store, which would become part of the dynasty of American retail stores moving into the 20th century. The first store, which was basically a pioneering trading post, was not a huge store but a beginning. He began working in his father's retailing enterprise at age 13. After his father initially opened the first store, he and his older brother Jacob established a store in Danville, Illinois, in the 1880s, which was unprofitable. At that point, the store was relocated to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1889 as Gimbel Brothers. In 1894 a second department store opened in Philadelphia, which was managed by his younger brothers Charles and Ellis. By 1910, Gimbel's Department Store was in New York City on Herald Square, and the two older stores merged into this new much bigger store. He became president when the firm was incorporated in 1922. In 1923 Gimbel brothers purchased, from a cousin, the department store Saks and Company, which eventually became the upscale retail store, Saks Fifth Avenue. After his retirement, his son Bernard Gimbel became president of the company from 1927 to 1953, and when his grandson, Bruce, becoming president in the 1953, the third generation was the chief of the company's management. With six brothers and his father, he founded a chain of stores in Philadelphia, New York, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Detroit. Beverly Hills, and Miami. By 1963 the $61.6 million business had 63 stores. The family had a generous dedication to philanthropy. The store remained in the family's management until 1973, and with a remaining 36 stores, the last Gimbel's store closed its doors in 1987. Born one of fourteen children of Adam and Fridolyn Gimbel, eleven of whom lived to adulthood, he had a large extended family with his father's siblings and their families immigrating to the United States. Gimbels was the largest department store corporation in the world at the time of his death. As his health declined with aging, he could no longer walk for a number of years, before he died of pneumonia. A massive funeral with at least 1,000 civic leaders, merchants and friends attending was held for him at a synagogue in New York City before interment in Philadelphia. Recognizing his reputation in the retail business, his obituary was published in all major national newspapers, but he had a long-detailed obituary starting on the front page that continued to page two with his photograph in the "New York Times." He left thirteen of the German peddler Adam Gimbel's descendent managing the stores.