Now-defunct Los Angeles-based company Handy Dan Improvement Centers fired Marcus, then the CEO, and his future business partner Arthur Blank during a corporate restructuring in 1978.
The first two Home Depot stores opened in the metro Atlanta area in 1979 as part of the company's drive to run home improvement superstores, but they weren't immediate successes.
Home Depot
Marcus and Blank lost half the money they invested in the company during the first year the stores were open.
And today, more than 40 years after its founding, Home Depot has roughly 2,300 stores in North America and employs approximately half a million people.
He has also actively given to Republican politicians, donating $64 million to political causes over the years such as the campaigns of former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and Sen. John McCain, according to data from the Federal Election Commission.
Marcus sparked a boycott of Home Depot in July 2019 after telling the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he would once again financially support the president in 2020.
Lately, he has made many controversial claims about today's work climate, claiming in a December 2022 interview that "nobody works, nobody gives a damn" anymore because of "socialism."
