Industry Pays Tribute to Burt Tansky, Former CEO of Neiman Marcus Group

Industry executives paid tribute Monday to Burt Tansky, the former chief executive officer of Neiman Marcus Group who died Sunday at the age of 87. Known for his business acumen, love of product and wit, Tansky attracted a wide circle of friends and colleagues both in the U.S. and abroad, who praised his talent for building luxury businesses, scouting talent and mentoring employees.

Here’s what they had to say:

Barry Schwartz, cofounder and former chairman of Calvin Klein Inc.

“He became my closest friend among all the retailers. We’ve been in constant  touch since I sold the company and he retired. He was just a truly great person and a super merchant who was definitely an icon in our industry. They don’t come along too often. He had a great sense of humor. He called me Friday to say goodbye, and said, ‘I’ll see you on the other side. Are you going to beat me up over there too?’”

Leonard A. Lauder, chairman emeritus of the Estée Lauder Cos.

“Burt’s ability to build a business was unrivaled, and he stands as one of the most dynamic and energetic department store CEOs in history. He will be missed dearly by his many colleagues, friends, and everyone who was lucky enough to know him.”

Diego Della Valle, chairman of the Tod’s Group 

“I have been greatly saddened by the news of the death of Burt Tansky. I have lost a great friend who accompanied me through many years of my career and also a person with whom I have shared many moments of friendship and personal relations. Burt was and will remain a legend in the world of global luxury, not only American. He was a great supporter of Italian fashion and of made in Italy. In addition to having helped me very much, he’s always been of great help to all the representatives of companies and brands that wanted to get to know the American market well.” 

Sidney Toledano, adviser to LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault, former CEO of Christian Dior Couture and former CEO of LVMH Fashion Group

“I was very fond of Burt. I met him when I arrived at Dior in 1994. He was already CEO of Neiman Marcus. He was one of the greats in luxury, but in retail and management overall, because he had his ear to the ground and he had a real feel for the merchandising of luxury products. 

“I met him at a time when we were changing strategy at Dior because when I arrived, we decided to halt a lot of licenses and develop leather goods. He brought Dior back to Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman, because we were no longer carried there. He had confidence in our plan.  

“He had charisma, vision and incredible empathy. Negotiations with U.S. department stores are always tough but before getting down to the nitty-gritty, we would always take a moment to have a coffee and talk about our families. He wanted to know what my vision was for the brand. It was an exceptional relationship.  He had an innate sense of the quality of luxury service and he really boosted Neiman’s. He also trained incredible people like Karen Katz and Jim Gold. He was great at scouting talent.

“He was a great partner. He was willing to take risks and, beyond the numbers, he understood the evolution of different brands and the psychology of the U.S. luxury consumer. He liked European brands and he supported them. I think we owe him a lot.”

Toledano noted that Christian Dior himself won the prestigious Neiman Marcus Award in 1947. The executive visited Tansky at the company’s headquarters in Dallas twice, including for the company’s 100^th anniversary celebrations in 2007. “I can still picture him: he was wearing cowboy boots, which was quite unusual for him, because he was always impeccably dressed.”

Bobbi Brown, makeup artist and founder of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics and Jones Road

“Without Burt Tansky, there may not have been a Bobbi Brown Cosmetics.  In 1991, I was a young makeup artist who created 10 lipsticks that looked like the color of lips, and Burt — or Uncle Burt as I called him — and his team at Bergdorf Goodman took a chance on me.  They put our 10 lipsticks on a small table in the accessories department of Bergdorf Goodman because there was no room on the beauty floor and he beamed with pride (and a little disbelief), as he watched us sell 100 lipsticks on the first day.  No one had more joy and excitement for the retail industry and nothing gave him more pleasure than mentoring young entrepreneurs and watching them grow.  He was a true mensch and a man I will forever be grateful to because he believed in me more than I believed in myself.” 

Josh Schulman, CEO of Burberry

“Burt was a true visionary in the retail world. He had an extraordinary eye for talent, whether it was recognizing small emerging brands that would go on to become big players, or nurturing a generation of executives who would become industry leaders. 

“While I was working for Richard Tyler in the 1990s, I first met Burt at Bergdorf Goodman, where he championed our emerging brand to have a shop on the third floor. Watching him interact with sales associates and customers was a master class in luxury retailing. Later, when Richard Tyler presented his collection at the Crystal Charity in Dallas, I saw Burt’s camaraderie with his executive team, his love of the product and people of the store. I knew I wanted to work for this organization. 

“Years later, Burt would retire from the NMG board shortly after I joined Bergdorf Goodman, but he always retained a curiosity about the business and people. He would occasionally come and walk the floor with me and he would literally light up as he would greet customers and sales associates by name.”

Michael Kors

“I feel privileged to have worked closely with Burt Tansky over the years, whether at Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman or Neiman Marcus. He was that rare merchant who understood how everything intersects. He cared about the customer, cared about the sales associates on the floor, listened to people and brought the press into the equation. He was brilliant at understanding the mechanics of how it all works and how important it is to always keep your eyes and ears open. He was a true giant in the American luxury market.”

Michele Norsa, former CEO of Salvatore Ferragamo, special adviser to Ferragamo chairman Leonardo Ferragamo

“Burt Tansky was a great gentleman, he was iconic and fused an extraordinary experience with a natural leadership. He had a deep knowledge and a deep respect of fashion and luxury brands and products, in addition to a special liking of Italy. I think that all who have crossed paths with him in the golden era of Italian fashion have extraordinary memories of him.”

Stephen Ruzow, former president and chief operating officer of Donna Karan International

“First of all, he was a gentleman’s gentleman. It was a pleasure dealing with him. He knew his customer, he was a great mentor to so many people and he was very astute in getting the best selection and best exclusives for Neiman’s always. I remember once that when they came in to see one of Donna’s resort collections one year, and he said, ‘We love it so much. We’ll take it all.’ Neiman’s was one of our biggest accounts. I remember we were doing a P.A. in Beverly Hills with Donna, and Burt was there and he said, ‘You know, you do 10 percent of the business in this total store.’ I was blown away. That was in the heyday of Donna Karan.”

Josie Natori, founder and CEO of The Natori Co. 

“Knowing and working with Burt Tansky for almost 40 years was truly a blessing. His encouragement and support through the years were invaluable. I so loved his energy and amazing personality. He was a great friend and will be deeply missed.”

Tracy Margolies, president of Bergdorf Goodman

“During my earlier days at Bergdorf Goodman, I had the honor of working alongside Burt. He was exceptionally generous in sharing the wisdom and experience he had accrued from the decades he spent in our industry. He was deeply passionate about the business of luxury retail, from merchandising strategy to extraordinary customer service, and sought to impart that in all of his teams. I’m forever grateful to have had a front row seat to his leadership.”

Andrew Rosen, industry consultant and investor

“Burt was an incredible man. My father [Carl Rosen] and Burt were such close friends. Burt was like an icon to me. We had such an incredibly close relationship because I met him in the 1970s….Burt was the consummate retailer. He understood how to deal with the brands and the designers, and how to convey their message to the consumer. He understood all sides. It was a different era back then. Department stores were really the authority for the consumer, and he really understood how to connect the dots between the brand’s voice and identity and the consumer. Of his era, he was certainly one of the greats.”

Linda Fargo, senior vice president, women’s fashion and director of store presentation, Bergdorf Goodman

“Burt Tansky was always larger than life as both a person and as a leader. When he spoke, we listened, and so did the vendor community. With the brands, he was always coming from a place of mutual respect and of the mindset of ‘Your success is our success.’ He was a living master class in luxury retailing. He embodied a balance in the pursuit of the best of class with profitability, and all with a warm sense of humor always at the ready. He taught us that every decision taken must serve the legacies of Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman, while running towards the future.”

Ken Downing, creative director of Halston, and former senior vice president, fashion director of Neiman Marcus  

“Burt was such a mentor to so many of us at Neiman Marcus. There was such great respect and regard for him because he had such a legendary life prior to coming to the Neiman Marcus Group.  He was very firm. He was always very business-oriented, and very suit-and-tie. My real memory of Burt is we were always in a suit and tie. We were representing Neiman Marcus. Even when many retailers were letting the individuals, the buyers, the marketing and the creative people bend the rules of dress code, we were in the business of doing fashion, and we were going to represent ourselves as business people.  And not only in the way that we looked, but it was very important to him that no matter what our role was within Neiman Marcus, that we understood the business, understood the business strategy and could speak to the business as well as he or the senior merchant team. He would let you know what he wanted instead of what you thought you should be doing.  The vendor community would always speak to how much in alignment the Neiman Marcus teams were. We spoke the same language, we used the same words, we were truly of one voice.

“Besides being a very serious business person and successful, he was so funny. He would tell the funniest stories, if he was on stage presenting at a Neiman Marcus forum or on stage presenting at a charity event, and even when we would do our Vogue breakfast. He had such a dry sense of humor and it was such an art how he could deliver a line. And he was such a great family man too. His beautiful wife, Rita, was always very present and involved with what he was doing at Neiman Marcus.” 

Janet Gurwitz, investor and entrepreneur

“Working with Burt while he was CEO of Neiman Marcus and I was his EVP was a life highlight. Burt literally LOVED being CEO of NM. He savored the job. His passion and energy were contagious.  He wanted to ensure I learned how the fashion were made not just seeing the fashion shows and being in the showrooms. So he made appointments for us to go to the workrooms of Christian Dior, Chanel, Hèrmes, and Louis Vuitton. It was an amazing education on both fashion and leather goods.”

Gurwitch recalled when Princess Diana hosted a reception at Kensington Palace during London Fashion Week for the top U.S. retail CEOs and their spouses. “I was an EVP, thus not invited and beyond disappointed. Stephen Elkin, the CEO of Bergdorf Goodman, was in London, but his wife was unable to go, so Burt asked Stephen if he would let  me go as his wife. He agreed. I went to this small elegant drinks party and it was a life highlight having drinks and a conversation with Princess Diana for about an hour at Kensington Palace.”

When Gurwitch left Neiman Marcus to start Laura Mercier cosmetics with the makeup artist, Tansky was equally as supportive. “I started Laura Mercier with my own monies but in the third year I needed additional funding. I called Burt and he said NMG would like to be my partner. They had never invested in an independent brand. They did it and it was a terrific partnership until they sold NMG in 2006.”

Miriam Ruzow, founder of Gottex

“Burt was the warmest, he was like a teddy bear. He was so kind, he was so outgoing, and he had a golden heart and always wanted to help and see what he can do for you. His taste was beyond. I don’t think at the time we knew how to appreciate it. He was an outstanding man. He was an example for all of us.”  

Susan Sokol, cofounder of High Alchemy and former president of Calvin Klein

“I absolutely adored this man. He was one of a kind. Clearly,  I knew Burt from his I. Magnin days but I really got to know him well during his tenure at Saks. In the mid-’80s, we had a big [Calvin Klein] business, which I was president of, at Saks, and he offered me a job. He said to me one day, ‘why don’t you come work for me, and you can start as a divisional merchandise manager, and you would build your career….’ I was really taken aback. I thought, ‘I would love to work for this guy, but I was very loyal to Barry and Calvin, and I had been newly minted as president of the Collection. From that point on, [Burt and I] always had this incredible relationship. I just revered him. He was an incredible merchant, he had a great eye. And I loved his wit.” 

Ellin Saltzman, former senior vice president, fashion director at Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman

“I worked for him at Saks and Bergdorf. He was great to work for. He was great to argue with. He was great  to travel with and he was great to eat with.”

Muriel Gonzalez, president of The Vitamin Shoppe, formerly vice president at Bergdorf’s and vice president, divisional merchandise manager Saks

“Burt was the quintessential ‘merchants’ merchant.’  He always raised the bar on how high is high. He loved every category of product — picture frames, fragrance, handbags, shoes, or designer apparel. He was passionate about driving business but also about all the people who became his friends in the business. Intensely curious, he led the way for so many. I treasure the time I had with him as a young merchant at Saks, then later at Bergdorf Goodman. He was a marvelous teacher.”