Jerry Zucker | Self-made billionaire, 58
Jerry Zucker, 58, a self-made billionaire who turned a small holding company into an empire that would eventually buy one of Canada's most-storied companies, has died.
Jerry Zucker, 58, a self-made billionaire who turned a small holding company into an empire that would eventually buy one of Canada's most-storied companies, has died.
Mr. Zucker, chief executive officer of the Hudson's Bay Co., died Saturday of cancer at his home in Columbia, S.C., according to the company.
Mr. Zucker was a scientist and inventor before becoming a global businessman. In 1983, he founded the InterTech Group, a conglomerate that makes fabrics and plastics for items as simple as tarps and as complex as insulation used in the minus-200-degree world of cryogenics.
In 2006, Mr. Zucker acquired Hudson's Bay Co., created as a fur-trading venture under a royal charter in 1670. The acquisition moved him onto Forbes magazine's list of billionaires, with a net worth of $1.2 billion on the 2008 list.
Mr. Zucker was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 1949 and immigrated to Charleston with his parents and brother three years later. He majored in chemistry, mathematics and physics at the University of Florida and received a master's degree in electrical engineering from Florida State University. - AP