Why Did Bernie Marcus Become a Pharmacist?
David Rosenthal says Bernie Marcus became a pharmacist because his family had no money to send him to medical school.
Bernie Marcus is Home Depot's founding CEO. He comes from a poor family of Jewish immigrants in the rough neighborhoods of Newark, New Jersey in the 1930s, during the Depression. He was in a gang as a kid on the streets of Newark. He was super smart and became the first person in his family to go to college. He went to Rutgers, down the road from Newark in New Jersey. His dream was to go on to medical school and become a psychiatrist. Medical school does not work out because his family does not have any money to send him, so he becomes a pharmacist instead.
He tells the gang story in his book, Kick Up Some Dust. The foreword was written by his good friend, the rapper Pitbull. The two of them bonded and became good friends later in Bernie Marcus's life. The book cover was enough to cause a serious double take.
