Home Depot founder Bernie Marcus who gave millions to Trump dead at 95
Home Depot founder Bernie Marcus, who donated millions to Donald Trump, has died.
The billionaire died at the age of 95, according to an internal memo obtained by CNN.
The details surrounding his death are currently unknown.
Marcus, who had a net worth of $7.4 billion, co-founded The Home Depot with Arthur Blank in 1978. The hardware store is said to be worth $400 billion and have more than 2,300 stores, CNN reported.
The hardware store founder was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1929 to Russian Jewish immigrants, and he was the youngest of four siblings.
In recent years, Marcus has been known as a megadonor to Republican efforts, including former President Donald Trump.
The retail heavyweight told the newspaper New York Post last year that Joe Biden was a “dumbbell” and “the most divisive president we’ve ever seen,” blaming him for many of America’s problems.
Home Depot founder Bernie Marcus, who donated millions to Donald Trump, has died at the age of 95
In recent years, Marcus has been known as a megadonor to Republican efforts, including former President Donald Trump
He also backed claims that 81-year-old Biden – the oldest president in US history – was mentally unfit for the highest office and even claimed he could be a “puppet” mouthpiece for others in the Democratic party.
“Someone is feeding him like a puppet,” the businessman told the Post before the president dropped out of the race, adding that if Biden were re-elected, America would become “a third world country.”
FEC data shows the 95-year-old billionaire has poured $64 million into Republican campaigns over the years, including Trump’s 2016 bid for the White House — but he admitted he had “difficulty” getting behind many of his former political favorites to stand.
He often appeared on right-wing programs, such as Fox News, and actively showed his support for the 45th president.
Marcus has also donated millions to the campaigns of John McCain and Ron DeSantis, according to CNN.
In 2022, he criticized Americans for being too socialist, saying “nobody works” and that “nobody cares.”
‘Give it to me. Send me money. “I don’t want to work, I’m too lazy, I’m too fat, I’m too stupid,” he mocked. “The awakened people have taken over the world.
‘We used to have freedom of speech here. We don’t have that,” he said at the time.
The Rutgers University graduate met his co-founder while working at Handy Dan Home Improvement in California.
Home Depot is said to have formed after they were both fired from the Golden State store and they hatched a plan to create a larger hardware store, according to CNN.
They started their business in Atlanta, Georgia, where Marcus and his wife Billi were well-known philanthropists.
He was CEO of the company until 1997 and chairman until 2002. Then he retired.
He and his wife also founded the Marcus Autism Center at Emory University and donated to various Jewish and medical organizations over the years, including a $250 million grant to help open the Georgia Aquarium in 2005, according to CNN .