Charles Lazarus

Charles P. Lazarus, who founded Toys “R” Us, the toy store chain that for decades captured the hearts of American consumers but that eventually faded and succumbed to bankruptcy, died on Thursday March 22 2018 . He was 94. Mr. Lazarus’s death comes one week after Toys “R” Us announced that it would start liquidating its stores in the United States. The closings announced last week could result in more than 30,000 employees’ losing their jobs. Mr. Lazarus opened his first store, Children’s Bargain Town, which sold furniture, in 1948, seeking to cash in on the post-World War II baby boom. He opened his first store dedicated exclusively to toys in 1957 and called it Toys “R” Us (though he turned the “R” around to face the other way to make it look as if a child had written it). Born on Oct. 4, 1923, in Washington and raised there, Charles Philip Lazarus was inspired to open his own retail business after helping his parents, Frank and Phoebe, run a bicycle shop. His understanding of a child’s mind-set helped him amass a considerable fortune; he owned a Fifth Avenue duplex in Manhattan, which was sold for $21 million in 2013. Mr. Lazarus stepped down as chief executive and chairman in March 1994. But he remained involved in the company as chairman emeritus, making a visit to the Toys “R” Us headquarters in Wayne, N.J., as recently as last year. His second marriage, to psychiatrist Helen Singer Kaplan, founder of the Human Sexuality Program at the Payne Whitney Clinic in New York, made headlines upon her 1995 death from cancer at 66. The day before she died, Kaplan notified her husband by handwritten letter that she was exercising a provision in their marital agreement entitling her to $20 million should either declare an intent to divorce. Lazarus challenged Kaplan's deathbed claim, saying it lacked any true intention to divorce him. He battled Kaplan's children -- Phillip, Peter and Jennifer -- in court until 2000, when, according to a New York Daily News article, a Manhattan Surrogate Court judge dismissed the children's fraud claim against Lazarus. Lazarus had two daughters, Ruth and Diane, with his first wife, Udyss, according to New York magazine. They divorced in 1979. He later married Joan Regenbogen, an interior decorator. He is survived by his wife, Joan Lazarus, and two daughters, Diane and Ruth.