Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus, billionaire philanthropist and GOP donor, has died at age 95.

“The entire Home Depot family is deeply saddened by the passing of our co-founder Bernie Marcus,” the company said. “We owe Bernie an immeasurable debt of gratitude. He was a master merchant and a retail visionary. But more importantly, he valued our employees, customers and communities above all else. He left us an invaluable legacy and the backbone of our company.”: our values.

Marcus' death was first reported by CNN.

According to a biography shared by Home Depot, Marcus grew up in Newark, New Jersey in 1929, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants. He eventually enrolled in pharmacy school and graduated from Rutgers University.

In 1978, at age 49, Marcus co-founded Home Depot in Atlanta with Atlanta Falcons owner and billionaire Democratic supporter Arthur Blank after both were fired from another home improvement company. They were financially supported by Ken Langone, another major philanthropist and Republican donor.

In 1981, Home Depot was listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange at $12 per share. Today, the company's shares are worth $395, giving it a market cap of about $392 billion. Home Depot now employs nearly half a million workers.

Marcus served as CEO for the company's first two decades and as chairman until his retirement in 2002. According to Forbes, Marcus had a net worth of approximately $11 billion at the time of his death.

Thanks to this fortune, Marcus became a prolific philanthropist. Through a foundation he founded, he supported a variety of causes and projects focusing on medicine and health care, Jewish and Israeli issues, free enterprise and veterans support, and community efforts.

A long-time supporter of civic projects in Atlanta, Marcus donated $250 million to build the Georgia Aquarium, one of the largest in the world.

In the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, Marcus initially donated to a political action committee that supported candidates such as former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Finally, he supported Donald Trump, writing in an online comment that, based on his experience building Home Depot into a multibillion-dollar company, he could not support the policies advocated by Hillary Clinton.

In 2023, Marcus endorsed Trump again. In another online comment, he said that while Trump's behavior had left him “frustrated” at times, “we cannot allow his brash style to be the reason we are distracted from his otherwise excellent leadership of the United States during his first term.” “Avert incumbency.” in office.”

“Now is the time for unity to preserve the American dream for future generations,” he wrote.