Maurice Goldblatt

Goldblatt was born to a Jewish family in Staszów, the son of Simon Goldblatt and Hannah Diamond.^[3][4] His family immigrated to Chicago in 1905.^[5] In 1914, he and his brother Nathan opened a general merchandise store in a Polish neighborhood in Chicago located at Chicago Avenue and Ashland Avenue.^[3] Sales grew markedly from $15,000 in the first year to $1.4 million by 1915.^[3] As a discount store, the company did well through the Great Depression and by 1933 had $20 million in sales with seven stores (5 in Chicago, 1 in Joliet, Illinois, and 1 in Hammond, Indiana).^[3] At the end of World War II, the company had 15 stores and over 2,500 employees. In 1946, Maurice retired^[5] and handed control to his younger brothers, Louis and Joel.^[3] In the 1970s, Goldblatt's had $250 million in annual sales and 47 stores with over 8,000 employees in the Chicago area.^[3]

In 1981, the company filed for Chapter 11 reorganization.^[5] In 1985, it was bought by JG Industries Inc. and reduced to 15 Chicago-area stores.^[3] In 2003, the company filed for Chapter 7 liquidation.^[3]

In 1935, he married Bernice Goldblatt; they had two children, Stanford Goldblatt and Merle Goldblatt Cohen.^[6] As his brother Nathan died of cancer in 1944, Maurice was a strong supporter of research to fight cancer and was seminal in establishing the University of Chicago Cancer Research Foundation in 1947; and donated $3.4 million facility to the University of Chicago Medical Center.^[5]