[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 94 (Monday, June 9, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1171]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     A TRIBUTE TO STUART G. MOLDAW

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. ANNA G. ESHOO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, June 9, 2008

  Ms. ESHOO. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and legacy 
of my good friend Stuart G. Moldaw who passed away at the age of 81 on 
Saturday, May 24, 2008. Stuart is survived by his beloved wife, 
Phyllis, daughters Carol and Susan Moldaw, and four grandchildren.
  A native of Boston and the son of a Russian immigrant, Stuart 
enlisted in the Navy in 1944 before using the G.I. Rill to attend 
Syracuse University where he met his future wife, Phyllis lsraelson of 
Portland, Maine. After graduating in 1949 with a Bachelor's Degree in 
Marketing and Economics, Stuart began his retail career at Le Bon 
Marche, a department store in Lowell, Massachusetts, and married 
Phyllis in 1950.
  He then moved to California to work for another retailer, Lerner 
Shops, where he became a district manager and oversaw the opening of 
more than 20 Lerner stores, including ones in Oakland and the Stanford 
Shopping Center. In 1958, Stuart opened his first retail business, 
Country Casuals, in Palo Alto.
  He also started Pic-a-Dilly, one of the country's earliest off-price 
apparel chains in 1973, and co-founded Athletic Shoe Factory in 1979, 
which featured national brands at discounted prices. Both chains were 
later sold. He also co-founded V.S. Venture Partners, a Mendo Park-
based venture capital firm.
  Stuart was a longtime Bay Area resident, pioneer entrepreneur and 
philanthropist who helped transform a small chain of local department 
stores into the Pleasanton-based retail giant Ross Dress for Less. Ross 
Stores Inc., acquired by Stuart in 1982, is a Fortune 500 company with 
$6.1 billion in sales over the last 12 months, more than 900 stores in 
27 states and more than 40,000 employees. The original investors in the 
Ross venture included another Bay Area retail pioneer, Mervin G. 
Morris, the founder of Mervyns, who had recently retired before 
becoming one of the Ross investors.
  In a career that spanned more than a half-century, Stuart, a resident 
of Atherton, also helped launch several other retail ventures, 
including Sail Francisco-based Gymboree, a children's clothing retail 
chain launched in 1986. At the time of his death, Stuart was chairman 
emeritus of both Ross Stores and San Francisco-based Gymboree Corp.
  Stuart Moldaw cared deeply about people and directed himself to make 
the world a better place. He was well-respected for his passion and 
commitment to improving the lives of those around him and was appointed 
by President Bill Clinton as a Public Delegate to the U.S. Mission at 
the United Nations in 1993 and as Chairman of the White House 
Commission on Presidential Scholars in 1996. In 2000, Governor Gray 
Davis appointed him to chair California's World Trade Commission, and 2 
years later he was appointed to California's Little Hoover Commission. 
He also served on the boards of many Bay Area non-profits, including 
the Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula, the Palo Alto Medical 
Foundation, the Jewish Community Endowment Fund and the San Francisco 
Museum of Modern Art. He gave tirelessly of himself to his family, 
friends, colleagues and community and set the highest standard for 
others to follow.
  Madam Speaker, I ask the entire House of Representatives to join me 
in honoring the life and accomplishments of Stuart G. Moldaw. His 
decades of contributions to his community and his country stand as 
lasting legacies of a life lived well. How privileged I am to have 
known him, represented him and to have had him as my friend. America is 
better because of him.

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