Like few other executives in retailing, Burt Tansky rode the luxury wave.
The former chief executive officer of Neiman Marcus Group, who earlier in his career served as CEO of Bergdorf Goodman and president of Saks Fifth Avenue, earned the sobriquet “Mr. Luxury” by maintaining a strategy to cater to the most affluent people in the U.S. with dominant designer presentations and the highest price points, and getting to know the top-spending customers. He even had a sign on his desk, prominently displaying his industry nickname.
Tansky cut his teeth in luxury at I. Magnin as a senior merchant in the mid-1970s, and shifted to Saks Fifth Avenue, where he rose to president in 1980 and stayed in the job for a decade, operating in the shadows of the three CEOs he reported to at different times. When Tansky finally took the reins at Bergdorf Goodman in 1990, it was like a jockey steering a thoroughbred to the head of the pack. The spotlight became his and his alone. He emerged as the merchant prince of trading up, and he never veered from that lane.
“I can talk shoes. I can talk underwear. I can talk hats. I love to talk about the merchandise. I’m clearly hands-on,” Tansky told WWD in an October 2010 interview just prior to his retirement. “I get excited by the results, by hot items. Are you kidding? I love to talk merchandising. I love to talk finance, too. I can talk warehouses. I can talk stores. It all intertwines.”
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On Sunday morning, Tansky passed away at the age of 87 after succumbing to cancer. A funeral service will be held Tuesday at 10 a.m. at Temple Judea, 4311 Hood Road in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
“Burt was a great gentleman, and a terrific merchant. Because he personally knew his top 250 customers at Neiman’s, he had the ability to discern what would be relevant to his core shoppers, ahead of the curve,” said Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners, the retail research and strategic advisory firm.
Tansky catapulted Neiman’s to the industry’s highest productivity rates, more than $500 in sales a square foot at its peak, and orchestrated a cautious, steady expansion of one or two store openings annually, growing Neiman’s from 24 to 41 units. He believed that even a mature chain founded in 1907 had room to grow. Under his leadership, Neiman’s demonstrated a knack for tapping the pockets of rising wealth, such as Austin, Texas, and Charlotte, S.C., in the ’90s, which not much earlier would have been unthinkable.
Tansky also triggered the launch of neimanmarcus.com and poured money and resources into the strategy, becoming an early advocate of a channel that many doubted could support selling high-end products, let alone fashion. On the other hand, an acquisition strategy never blossomed beyond two small purchases, Kate Spade and Gurwitch Products, both of which were sold off in 2006. There were periods where he was in talks to buy Selfridges and Harrods, but he felt his efforts and Neiman’s resources were better spent driving luxury at home.
Tansky at one time considered the possibility of rolling out Bergdorf Goodman, including to Las Vegas of all places, but concluded that Neiman’s was the right rollout strategy for the U.S.
His vision was clear — reverse the path set by the previous regime, which had been egged on by the recommendations of the McKinsey & Co. consulting firm to widen the consumer base, matrix and price spectrum with such brands as Dana Buchman and Ellen Tracy, considered “bridge” labels. But Tansky sought the most prestigious and expensive European and American designer brands for the U.S.’s richest consumers, and in the process elevated the value of the Neiman’s brand — the stock was $10 when he joined Bergdorf‘s and rose to $100 a share around the time he succeeded in leading the sale of the business for a hefty $5.1 billion to Texas Pacific and Warburg Pincus in 2005. The-then majority owner, the Smith family, patiently let Tansky do his thing over the years and exited the business richer and happier.
Most importantly, Tansky was very visible in fashion and retail circles, a front row regular at the New York and European collections, and instrumental in building strong ties with domestic and foreign vendors. He mentored executives, with exceedingly low management turnover, and made succession planning and promoting from within priorities. Tansky was also a mentor to many, maintained a firm but caring approach to those he managed, and in front of an audience, be it at a fundraiser or award ceremony, would warm up the crowd with his wit and humor.
“Burt was a remarkable mentor. He was so good to me,” said Katz, who succeeded Tansky as CEO after he retired in 2010. “He had such good direct feedback. He made me a better merchant and a better leader.
“One of things that made him so unique was that he knew he could not run a company without strong women and men around him, but he also knew there had to be a balance in their lives, particularly with women if they had kids. He enabled people to have a personal life.”
On his first day on the job as Neiman’s CEO in 1996, he met Katz at the Northpark store in Dallas, where she was the general manager at the time.
“We walked the store together. We immediately clicked,” Katz recalled. “He had a way of connecting with people. He could stand up in front of any group and tell funny stories. Even though he looked buttoned up in his Brioni suits and Charvet ties, he made people feel very much at ease around him. When men walked into his office, he would shake their hands, then flip their ties to see if they were from Neiman Marcus. If they weren’t, he would send someone down to get some Neiman Marcus ties, and sell them the ties. He was always doing things like that.…He united his team, the designers and the customers on a vision that there were no limits to luxury. I don’t know who came up with that name Mr. Luxury for Burt, but it really stuck.”
“Burt was one of the most extraordinary people and leaders I have known,” said Jim Gold, CEO of Moda Operanda and formerly president and chief merchandising officer of the Neiman Marcus Group, and Bergdorf’s president and CEO. “When he arrived at Neiman’s in 1994, Neiman Marcus Group was partially committed to luxury brands and price points. When he retired 16 years later, NMG was the preeminent luxury department store company in the world. Burt saw where the customer and industry were heading long before others did, and he took us there through his strength of will. He had the rare mix of being visionary, passionate, driven and demanding, while also being funny, warm, supportive and a true gentleman. He lit up a room, and was an incredible leader and friend. I truly won the lottery having him as a mentor and will be forever grateful for what he taught me, how he shaped my career and his unwavering support.”
“Burt was a like a second father to me. He’s been in my life for 25 years,” said Brendan Hoffman, the former CEO of Wolverine Worldwide, Lord & Taylor and neimanmarcus.com, and now cofounder and CEO of P180 and Vince. “Burt was a role model personally and professionally. I spoke with him regularly, and up until his last day he was always interested in my life and my family and how he could help. He was one-of-a-kind.”
Tansky gave Hoffman his big break, making him CEO of Neiman Marcus Direct in 2002. “Burt saw something in me. He thought I was the right person for taking this fledgling e-commerce business on a new path. But he also always made sure I left in time for dinner,” Hoffman said.
He recalled that 20 years ago, “Burt, myself and Jeff Bezos were in a meeting when Amazon was trying to break into luxury, and Burt said, ‘I have lots of wealthy friends and they all shop on Amazon.’ Burt had the foresight to recognize the changing consumer, and to see that luxury would work on e-commerce. When I left Neiman’s to become CEO of Lord & Taylor in 2008, we talked every week. He would still press me on business and opportunities to drive more sales.
“Burt loved retail. He loved the action in stores,” Hoffman added. “Whether it was Neiman’s or TJMaxx, he loved seeing how consumers were reacting to the merchandise and the sales associates.”
Tansky was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., in a working-class family. His father, a hairdresser and his mother, a homemaker, were immigrants who escaped religious persecution and settled in Pittsburgh.
Tansky’s first job was at age 12 when he had a paper route and a string of odd jobs through his teenage years followed, including as a clerk at a grocery store and selling shoes at Kaufmann’s, the local department store.
Burt Tansky and his wife Rita.
Courtesy of Neiman Marcus
His wife, Rita, was his high school sweetheart whom he married shortly after graduating from the University of Pittsburgh. He majored in history and minored in economics, and was planning to be a lawyer, but marriage convinced him he should start working immediately instead of attending law school. “I always worked,” Tansky said. “I needed to get going.”
After college, he applied to the six-week training program at Kaufmann’s and was accepted, and was given a variety of assignments lasting five or six days each, getting a taste of different aspects of the business. He sold men’s sportswear for a while, became head of stock for women’s sportswear, and an assistant buyer of notions, which was a huge business on the main floor in those days. “I liked the action at retail,” Tansky told WWD. “I liked the momentum, the interaction with people.”
Eventually, he worked as a division manager at the Monroeville, Pa., branch, where the store manager was David Farrell, the late, legendary chairman and CEO of May Department Stores Co., which was acquired by Macy’s after Farrell retired. Although Tansky worked for Farrell for less than a year, he was a big influence.
“He was a brilliant manager and a brilliant merchant, hard-driving and very aggressive,” Tansky once remembered. “In the 10 months I worked for him, he only took five days off. His work ethic was unbelievable. After driving 45 minutes to get to the store, he worked till 9:30. He stayed past closing every night of the week. There is no question I learned from him. I learned from all the people I reported to over the years.”
Karen Katz and Burt Tansky
Steve Eichner
“I had two young kids and would work three full days, top to bottom, from eight in the morning to 9:30 at night, and to six or seven o’clock the other two nights,” Tansky once told WWD. “I have always put in long hours. I believe luck is something that you make. It has something to do with hard work and staying focused. There is no substitute for excellence. There is no substitute for focus.”
Tansky became a Kaufmann’s buyer in 1965 in women’s clothes and small leather goods, but got impatient and was eager to advance his career. He became the assistant store manager at Filene’s in Boston and a year later became a store manager. Three years later, he became a divisional merchandise manager at Rike’s in Dayton, Ohio, and in 1974, he became a general merchandise manager at I. Magnin, the former luxury chain on the West Coast, marking his first luxury store experience.
In 1974, Bob Suslow, then-CEO of Saks Fifth Avenue, hired Tansky as a Saks gmm. By 1979, Tansky had risen to executive vice president and in 1980, he was the president of Saks. He stayed in that job for 10 years, in which he worked for three CEOs: Suslow, Arnold Aronson and Mel Jacobs. “It was an exciting time. Saks was growing like crazy, building new stores,” Tansky said.
In 1989, Ira Neimark retired as CEO of Bergdorf Goodman, and recommended to Neiman’s owners, the Smith family, that Tansky succeed him at the Bergdorf division. There weren’t many retailers as qualified as Tansky and Neimark liked the fact that Tansky survived three CEOs at Saks Fifth Avenue, demonstrating his appeal. Tansky came to Bergdorf‘s as executive vice president and transitioned with Neimark for a year before assuming the reins.
In 1994, he became CEO of Neiman Marcus Stores in Dallas, which also owns Bergdorf‘s. NMG was reluctant to bring Tansky to Dallas, feeling he wouldn’t fit in, but Neimark once again lobbied for Tansky to get the job.
“The first year was a big transition for my wife and I — no question,” Tansky acknowledged. “We were separating ourselves from our kids. It took a few months” to get used to Dallas and vice versa. “People here are very friendly. It’s been a good ride as they say — very good. The problem is people who live and grow up in New York are so New York-centric. They think the rest of the country is nothing but farm towns.”
Outside of his love of retail, Tansky loved his cars — and fast ones. He drove a Corvette, a Lexis 430 and an antique Jaguar, among several cars he owned simultaneously.
Tansky was the recipient of numerous industry awards and honors, among them the Gold Medal Award from the National Retail Federation, and he was appointed as a Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur by the French government for his support of French brands. He was also very active in charitable and community causes, including Jupiter Hospital and Cancer Center in Florida, Temple Judea in Palm Beach Gardens and the University of Pittsburgh.
Tansky’s family has a history of hearing impairment, something he largely kept private until a fund-raiser in 2008 at The Plaza in New York, where he was honored with the Jule Styne Humanitarian Award at the 25th anniversary gala for the Children’s Hearing Institute. Tansky’s son Michael, daughter-in-law, Ellen, and granddaughter, Sascha, have all been afflicted. Michael and Sascha have cochlear implants. “Most of us take our ability to hear for granted. I do not. Hearing loss is devastating,” Tansky told the crowd.
“When my grandson had a hearing problem when he was nine months old, the first person there offering support and guidance was Burt,” said Ron Frasch, former Bergdorf’s CEO and Saks Fifth Avenue president and chief merchandising officer. “You couldn’t ask for anything more.
“He supported my development in a major way,” Frasch added. When Frasch Ieft his job as president of GFT USA, “I was trying to figure out what to do next when Burt called me up and asked if I wanted to run Bergdorf Goodman. To me it seemed like an old ladies store, and he said, ‘Well then there’s a good challenge for you.’”
Frasch ran Bergdorf’s from 2000 to 2004, and earlier worked at Saks as a store manager until Tansky gave him an opportunity to work on the product side. “He always believed in me,” Frasch said. “He was the kindest man, so family-oriented, but he could also be tough” as a manager. “He gave me great freedom to run a business,” Frasch said. “I’m so sad that he has passed.”
Tansky is survived by his wife Rita; his children Hyla and Michael; his son-in-law Eric Weiss; daughter-in-law, Ellen; his sister Eva Blum and her husband Norman Wolmark, and three grandchildren.
