Ira Neimark on Retiring to the Good Life

For his fifth book, Ira Neimark, the legendary former chief executive officer of Bergdorf Goodman, chose the title: “How I Retired Successfully and Happily and Lived to Be 100.”

Close enough. He’s a mere 96, and keeping active.

He still golfs, though with a golf cart. He often dines out, but closer to his home in Harrison, N.Y. He studies art on his computer while exercising on his stationary bicycle, and his morning routine involves scanning WWD, The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, Reuters and other media.

“I have found keeping up with what is going on in the world around me keeps my mind active and challenged,” he writes in the book. “It would be unwise for me to be inactive. I am not interested in allowing my mind to slow down in boredom.”

He keeps writing and collecting photos from his past, to share with friends and family, and to tell his story. To some extent, his fifth book, published by GamePlan Press Inc. and available on Amazon, is another trip down memory lane — notably his rise from a page boy at Bonwit Teller to ceo of Bergdorf Goodman from 1975 to 1992. He discusses being forced to earn a living at age 16 when his father died tragically in a car accident, leaving high school to become a delivery boy, and the day on a delivery when he saw the passage of the Hindenberg over Prospect Park before it blew up in New Jersey.

He recounts his most memorable golf experience, which begins in London in 1987 when he attended a reception for Princess Diana. When it was his turn to be greeted by the princess, he gamely asked her if he could golf at Windsor Castle. “Princess Diana looked at her equerry and me and said, ‘You boys are always looking for trouble.'” Later at his hotel, he received a message from Windsor Castle to be ready with his golf clubs at 9 a.m. for a morning on the links.

Neimark’s book cover shows him golfing at Windsor Castle.

As chairman and ceo of Bergdorf’s, Neimark introduced couture, created designer shops and founded the men’s store across Fifth Avenue from the women’s store. Working with Dawn Mello, president, and Steve Elkin, the chief financial officer, Neimark established Bergdorf’s as the city’s foremost luxury emporium and one of the most fashionable stores in the world. He also solidified his own reputation as one of the nation’s top merchants — decisive, paternalistic and passionate about the details.

Over lunch at the Century Country Club, where he is a member, Neimark discussed the motivation for writing a fifth book and how it differs from the four others. He said he enjoys writing and collecting photographs, and that the book is something to hand down to friends and family.

“The main message is to start thinking about retirement a long time before you even come close to reaching that point,” Neimark said. When he retired from Bergdorf’s, in 1992, he left with a very lucrative package. The store went from $38 million a year when he started as ceo to $250 million when he retired, and now it’s around $800 million. But he said his ideas about retirement and how to make the most of it are as relevant to blue-collar workers as they are to those running big businesses.

“I have observed over the years many young executives, men and women, who do exceedingly well in their business careers, but come up far short in their personal financial planning,” Neimark writes in his book. “I was determined by age 50 that this was not going to happen to me….It is never too early in life to seek the advice and direction of a financial planner.” He started thinking about setting himself up financially for retirement when he was 49, leaving as executive vice president of the former G. Fox department store in Connecticut, when he realized he had few retirement benefits lined up.

Among Neimark’s other tips upon retiring:

• Join a club whether it’s for tennis, golf, sailing, swimming or hunting.

• Get on the computer, regardless of your age. It’s been his “magic box” to communicate with his generation, his children and his grandchildren.

• Keep relevant by keeping up to date with what’s going on around the world.

• Make quick visits to the doctor when something doesn’t feel right. “Early recognition of a problem and early treatment minimizes medical problems down the road.”

“To me a successful and enjoyable retirement means being able to do what I want to do, when I want to do it,” Neimark writes.

Asked if he has another book in him, Neimark replied, “No. This is definitely it.”