Lands’ End founder Gary C. Comer died on Oct. 4 at his home in Chicago.
At age 33, Cormer gave up a 10-year-career as a copywriter at Young & Rubicam to start his own company, a mail-order sailing equipment business. The next year, in 1963, he and five partners incorporated Lands’ End Yacht Stores in a rent-free basement office on Chicago’s north side. The misplaced apostrophe was a typo that became part of the firm’s history.
When the company began to make a small profit in 1965, they printed their first catalog. In 1978, Comer moved the warehouse and phone operations to Dodgeville, WI. In 1986, Lands’ End went public.
Comer stepped down as president in 1990. He remained chairman of the board and the majority stockholder until Lands’ End was sold to Sears in May 2002.
“All of us at Lands’ End are deeply saddened. Our thoughts are with Gary’s wife, Frances and the entire family,” said Lands’ End President David McCreight in a statement. “American business has lost an icon. Gary Comer was a visionary entrepreneur, whose passion for excellence created a legendary company. His adventurous spirit, environmental stewardship and legacy of philanthropic leadership continue to inspire us.”
In 2001, Gary and Frances Comer donated $21 million to help build the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital, a gift that matched the largest donation ever presented to the University of Chicago Hospitals.
Four years later, Comer and the Comer Science and Education Foundation donated $18 million to Columbia University in support of geochemistry research at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.
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