Minnie Lichtenstein Marcus

Who was Minnie Lichtenstein Marcus?

Minnie Lichtenstein was born in Dallas in 1882. Her father Meyer Lichtenstein had immigrated from Königsberg, Germany and her mother Hattie Mittenthal had come from Russia via Peoria, Illinois. She married Herbert Marcus in 1902 and gave birth to the first of their four sons Stanley Marcus in 1905. The Marcus family and the newly married Carrie Marcus Neiman and Abraham Lincoln Neiman who were her sister in law and her husband then moved to Atlanta, Georgia to do sales promotion work. The Coca-Cola Company and other clients brought in substantial income but Minnie and others became homesick for Dallas. The Neiman and Marcus families relinquished sales territories in the nascent soft drink concern for $25,000 which they used to found Neiman Marcus, which initially specialized in ready-to-wear women's finery, in Dallas in 1907.

Minnie gave birth to her subsequent three sons, Edward, Herbert Jr., and Lawrence in roughly four year intervals. In 1928 she and her husband took an extensive trip to Europe while her son Stanley worked with Mr. Neiman and an expanding group of employees in the constantly growing enterprise. After their return they discovered that Stanley Marcus and A. L. Neiman had clashed on many issues and that Carrie had been told first hand about her husband's marital infidelities. Minnie's sister in law asked for a divorce and Herbert officially made a decision to take a loan to buy out the Neiman share for $250,000 in return for Mr. Neiman being legally barred from competing with Neiman Marcus in Dallas in the future.