Bruce Nordstrom, a retail govt who helped broaden his household’s Pacific Northwest division retailer chain into an upscale nationwide model, has died.

Seattle-based Nordstrom Inc. stated its former chairman died at his residence on Saturday. He was 90.

“Our dad leaves a robust legacy as a legendary enterprise chief, a beneficiant neighborhood citizen and a loyal good friend,” stated a press release from his sons, Nordstrom CEO Erik Nordstrom and Pete Nordstrom, the corporate’s president.

The chain traces its roots again to a Seattle shoe retailer opened by Swedish immigrant John Nordstrom and a accomplice in 1901.

Bruce Nordstrom and different members of the third era took management reins in 1968. They introduced the corporate public in 1971 and expanded its footprint throughout the U.S. whereas additionally launching the lower-priced Nordstrom Rack shops.

Bruce Nordstrom retired from his govt function in 1995 because the third era handed over management to the fourth. He retired as chairman of Nordstrom’s board of administrators in 2006.

He was considered one of a number of Nordstrom members of the family who in 2017 made a push to take the corporate personal, proposing to purchase out the 70% of the division retailer’s inventory they did not already personal. These talks failed in 2018 however earlier this yr, his sons began one other sequence of buyout negotiations.

Along with two sons, Nordstrom’s survivors embody his spouse, Jeannie, his sister and fellow philanthropist Anne Gittinger, and 7 grandchildren.