STAYING POWER: Walter Loeb, oft considered the dean of retail analysts, turns 100 on Jan. 28 and plans to celebrate his milestone in a big way.
“I’m in good health,” said the always smiling and jovial Loeb.
“We’re having three parties for family and friends. They’re coming from all over — from England, France, Florida, New York, of course, different parts of the country. I am very happy I will be celebrating with everyone.” The parties are being held at his elegant Beaux Art apartment on Riverside Drive on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
Loeb has led an adventurous life and had a storied career in the industry with a reputation for calling it right, and frequently calling it ahead of the pack. He got to know many CEOs well, including Sam Walton and Leonard Lauder. After working early on at Macy’s, May Co. and other retailers, his blue-chip reputation as a retail analyst began at Johnson Redbook Service and blossomed at Morgan Stanley, where he worked for 16 years and became a principal. After reaching retirement age and leaving Morgan Stanley, he formed the Loeb Associates consulting firm. He’s served on several boards, booked speaking engagements at universities and corporations around the country and penned a newsletter. For the last 12 years, he wrote a column for Forbes, before he discontinued it last year.
Loeb, who has been married to his wife Phyllis for almost seven decades, has three daughters and six grandchildren. He was born in Germany in 1925. His family escaped the Holocaust by emigrating to Italy. When Italy sided with Germany in the war, Loeb’s family emigrated again to Cuba and finally the U.S. Loeb became a citizen and was drafted. He participated in the Normandy invasion, landing on Utah Beach. He was reassigned to advanced communications and asked to translate a German engineering book on the Remagen Bridge, which Hitler intended to destroy. After Loeb translated the book, the allies were able to deactivate explosives concealed in the bridge, enabling soldiers to cross the Rhine River into Germany.
Loeb’s patriotic feelings have endured. For many years, he advised the Army Air Force Exchange Service on a volunteer basis. “I believe very strongly in being a U.S. citizen and doing things for my country,” he told WWD.
