Maurice Lazarus; Filene's ex-president
Hyfler/Rosner
By Associated Press
May 6, 2004, 12:21 AM EDT
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Maurice Lazarus, who pursued two
successful careers, one in his family's department store
business and another as a founder of one of the nation's
first HMOs, died Tuesday. He was 88.
Lazarus, whose family founded retail giant Federated
Department Stores, had lung cancer and died early Tuesday at
his home in Cambridge, said his wife, Nell.
After retiring from retail, Lazarus was among the founders
of Harvard Community Health Plan, now the Harvard Pilgrim
Health Care.
Family members described Lazarus as a man who filled his
days with business and philanthropic pursuits, but didn't
rush through life.
"He was not a frantic person; he was a very calm, quiet,
gentle person," his daughter, Carol Lazarus, said Wednesday
night. "He found time because he made time."
A 1937 graduate of Harvard, Lazarus was a member of the
university's board of overseers and director of the Harvard
Alumni Association.
Born June 27, 1915, in Columbus, Ohio, Lazarus worked at
Lazarus Department Store, the family business his
great-grandfather established.
It was during his time there that his father, Fred Lazarus
Jr., co-founded Federated Department Stores with other
regional department stores, including Filene's and
Bloomingdale's. Federated became a national retail giant.
Lazarus worked at Foley's Department Store in Houston from
1945 through 1958, rising to executive vice president. He
was made president and treasurer of Filene's Department
Store in 1958. He was president of Filene's through 1964 and
was the Boston-based store's chairman of the board until
1965. He remained active in the company as chairman of its
finance committee through 1982.
In what he called "the second half" of his life, Lazarus
took what he learned from the family retail business and
applied it to making health care more accessible and
affordable through the HMO.
He was also a member of the U.S. Department of Health,
Education and Welfare's Advisory Committee on National
Health Insurance, and served on the advisory board of the
President's Commission on the Status of Women during the
Johnson administration.
Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press