Bernie Marcus spent much of his life being associated with Home Depot, the home improvement giant he helped build into one of the most recognizable companies in America. But before the billionaire entrepreneur became a business legend, he had a very different dream: he wanted to become a doctor.
Marcus, who died in November 2024 at 95, never attended medical school because his family could not afford it. Instead, he enrolled in pharmacy school and earned his degree from Rutgers University. Decades later, the medical career he never pursued became an important part of his legacy.
Through The Marcus Foundation, Marcus and his wife, Billi, directed billions of dollars toward medical research and other causes. The foundation's latest major gift is once again focused on medicine, supporting research that could eventually help repair heart damage after a heart attack.
Bernie Marcus wanted to be a doctor before becoming a business giant
Long before he became a billionaire, Marcus was looking for a way to build a career in medicine.
Because medical school was financially out of reach for his family, he chose pharmacy school instead. While studying, he also found creative ways to earn money, including selling Amana freezers door-to-door.
Marcus graduated from Rutgers University and eventually moved into the business world, taking on leadership roles at manufacturing companies before finding his way into the home improvement industry.
His biggest career turning point arrived in 1978, when he was fired from Handy Dan, a home improvement retailer that no longer exists.
Rather than allowing the setback to define him, Marcus used it as an opportunity to start again. That decision eventually led to the creation of Home Depot.
From being fired to building Home Depot
Marcus cofounded Home Depot after losing his job at Handy Dan, transforming an unexpected career setback into one of the most important business opportunities of his life.
The company went on to become a massive home improvement retailer, while Marcus accumulated a fortune estimated at around $11 billion by the time of his death.
But alongside his business success, Marcus never completely abandoned his interest in medicine. That interest eventually became one of the defining features of his philanthropy.
The Marcus Foundation puts $28.7 million into heart research
The Marcus Foundation has donated $28.7 million to Dr. Chuck Murry, director of the University of Southern California's Stem Cell Center.
The funding is intended to support clinical trials involving stem cell-based therapies designed to regenerate damaged tissue following a heart attack.
The foundation described the research as an important step toward using cells as a form of living medicine.
“Murry and his team have advanced gene-edited cellular therapy to the point that the time is right to support cells as living medicine in this new form of treatment,” Jonathan Simons, chief science officer of The Marcus Foundation, said in a statement.
The donation represents the foundation's largest gift to USC and ranks among its biggest contributions to academic medicine.
Bernie Marcus' medical legacy stretches far beyond one donation
The latest USC gift is part of a much larger philanthropic effort.
Since Bernie and Billi Marcus established The Marcus Foundation in 1989, it has awarded more than $2.7 billion through more than 3,500 grants, supporting areas ranging from medical research and children's welfare to veterans, Jewish causes and free enterprise.
Medicine has remained one of its central priorities.
The foundation focuses on several areas, including stem cell research and regenerative medicine, cancer detection and treatment, autism, integrative medicine and cardiovascular disease.
Its work reflects a particularly personal connection for Marcus, who had once hoped to pursue medicine himself.
From children's research to stroke and autism care
The Marcus Foundation's medical giving began decades ago. Its first grant was worth roughly $110,000 and went to Emory's Egleston Children's Research.
Marcus later provided early funding that helped launch Autism Speaks in 2005. His foundation also supported the creation of the Marcus Stroke and Neuroscience Center at Grady, the Marcus Autism Center at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and the Marcus Institute for Brain Health at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.
The foundation has continued backing major medical initiatives.
In 2024, it donated $25.9 million toward stroke research at Emory University School of Medicine and Grady Health System's Marcus Stroke and Neuroscience Center.
In 2019, it gave $20 million to establish a Department of Integrative Medicine and Nutritional Sciences at Jefferson's Sidney Kimmel Medical College.
Why Bernie Marcus chose fewer causes
Marcus did not believe philanthropy was simply about giving money to as many causes as possible.
Instead, he gradually developed a more focused approach, concentrating his resources on areas that mattered most to him.
“We decided to narrow the field to those things that I was really, truly interested in,” Marcus told Philanthropy Roundtable in 2012, describing his move away from what he called a “buckshot approach.”
That philosophy became an important part of how The Marcus Foundation operated.
Mike Leven, a trustee of the foundation, explained why Marcus was so disciplined about giving.
“People may not understand how hard it is to do this,” Leven said. “People are coming at you all the time, good people with good causes. Unless you discipline yourself, you're going to overgive and underachieve. Bernie's better at it than anybody I know."
