Bernie Marks, cofounder of Garfield & Marks, a leading bridge sportswear company in the 1990s, died Monday at his home in Boca Raton, Fla. He was 81.
The cause of death was lung cancer, according to his son Jeffrey.
A gregarious executive with an infectious laugh, Marks was a respected business leader, who was self-taught. Born in the Bronx, Marks got his start in the fashion business after serving in the U.S. Army after high school. He began by carrying clothing around the garment center, getting sores on his hands from the hangers. He later owned a cutting room in the late 1970s and in the early 1980s began manufacturing Bugaboo, a women’s sportswear line. In 1993, he started Garfield & Marks, a women’s bridge sportswear collection, with Alex Garfield, and at its peak in the Nineties, the brand was generating more than $60 million in sales.
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“He was one special man,” said Jaime Nortman, director of sales of Peace of Cloth, who worked with Marks from the onset of Garfield & Marks. “He always had a big smile and was full of energy. He was everything but the finance guy. He drove the sales, shipped the boxes. He knew how to build and increase the business. He was a powerful force,” she said.
Marks was known as “king of the ribs,” utilizing a Japanese ribbed fabric that didn’t wrinkle and traveled well. The fabric was washable, in stock and could be reordered. “Bernie would get everything out in 24 hours,” said Nortman. The company manufactured the entire line of women’s separates on West 39th Street. It was cut and sewn and shipped to New Jersey, where it had its own warehouse.
“Bernie helped me to recognize the most important thing to be is me. ‘Just be you,’ is what he would say. It was all about product and having fun and luck, and we got lucky,” said Garfield. “People would tell me that I was a great designer, but it’s because of him that we were successful. He led the company and he was the boss,” said Garfield.
Garfield said he and Marks had a company together in the late 1970s called Joseph Bernard, and years later they decided to launch a new business together. Garfield said he agreed to put up the money, and when they were deciding what to call it, he suggested “Garfield & Marks,” while Marks wanted “Marks & Garfield.” But since Garfield put up the money, he got to put his name first.
Their biggest account was Nordstrom, which accounted for half the business, and they also sold at Belk and Parisian department stores, as well as 1,100 small specialty stores.
Donnie Davidow, who owns the Knit Wit stores and handled the Mid-Atlantic states for Garfield & Marks, became a close friend of Marks, calling him every single morning for years when he became ill. “I really loved the guy. He was a real Damon Runyon character. When we’d golf, he would hit the ball in the lake and he’d laugh. I made money, but I never made the kind of money I made with Bernie. When I’d receive the check, he’d ask, ‘Did you open the check yet?’ He’d be so happy I got the check. “I’m glad you’re happy,” Marks would say. “That means I made a lot of money.”
“I never met a man as smart, as happy and as brilliant as Bernie Marks,” added Davidow. “We lost a giant.”
Andrew Jassin, managing director of Jassin Consulting Group, said, “Bernie Marks was a consummate businessman: An innovator, merchant, mentor to a large group of dedicated friends, employees and industry professionals. A modern businessman experienced in the old school with seat-of-the-pants knowledge tied into modern technology, who along with his eponymous partner Garfield built a remarkable business, Garfield & Marks.”
After Marks and Garfield sold half the Garfield & Marks business to the then-Pegasus Apparel Group in 1998 in a deal worth $25 million, Marks sold his remaining 25 percent in the business for $5 million in 2003 and retired to Florida. (The brand went through several owners, including Jones Texas Inc., Harve Benard Ltd., Li & Fung Ltd. and Rousso Apparel).
Marks, however, quickly grew tired of a life of leisure and returned to start another business. Retirement is “utopia, but I am too active for it,” Marks told WWD in 2005. “I really loved what I did. Building Garfield & Marks with Alex Garfield was a very satisfying thing. I missed it terribly. When you get bored, you start to dissipate…you don’t function like you do when in business.” Marks decided to return to Seventh Avenue and started the Marks Apparel Group, serving as president and chief executive officer, but that operation never got off the ground.
Jeffrey Marks, who’s now in real estate with Century 21, recalled working with his father from 1997 to 2001, managing the Garfield & Marks warehouse. “He was a little tougher on me because I was his son. Everybody loved him. He took really good care of his people and he was very generous. He always had his door open. He was a very warm person with a great sense of humor.”
As a father, he was always there for support, advice and encouragement, added Jeffrey Marks, who recalled spending many weekends with his father gambling in Atlantic City. He said his father was an avid golfer, had a personal trainer and lifted weights for many years. He also loved wine, fine food and traveling to Europe. He was a history buff.
In addition to Jeffrey, Marks is survived by his second wife, Faith, a son, Greg, a daughter-in-law Carolyn and a granddaughter, Alyssa.
A military service is planned for Thursday at 10:15 a.m. at South Florida National Cemetery at 6501 S. State Road 7 in Lake Worth, Fla. Marks will be cremated. A memorial service celebrating Marks’ life will be held in New York in mid-September around the Coterie.