Businessman. He was the co-founder of Sears and Roebuck Company, an American retailer, which sold clothes, appliances, and housewares. Born in Lafayette, Indiana, he began working as a self-taught watchmaker in Hammond at the age of 22. He answered a classified ad for a watchmaker placed by Richard Sears in the "Chicago Daily News" in 1887 for his mail order company, R.W. Sears Watch Company. In 1893, the two men started their own mail-order company using catalogues, which came to be known as Sears, Roebuck and Company. Their association grew into one of the world's best-known business partnerships. Roebuck was a conservative business man, but Sears was not. At Roebuck's request, Sears purchased Roebuck's half of the company in 1895, yet he returned to the business to manage the store's division of watches, jewelry, eyeglasses, and other items. He also founded a company that manufactured and distributed motion picture projectors and was president of Emerson Typewriter Company, where he invented the "Woodstock" typewriter. Sears retired in 1913 and died in 1914. The first retail store opened in 1925 in Chicago. When Sears, as the store was being called, suffered a loss after the Stock Market Crash of 1929, Roebuck came out of retirement and began working for the store again in 1933. The company did financially recuperate. Roebuck wrote the history of the company. Although the legal name of the store remained Sears, Roebuck and Company, in the mid-1960s the store signs read "Sears."
Businessman. He was the co-founder of Sears and Roebuck Company, an American retailer, which sold clothes, appliances, and housewares. Born in Lafayette, Indiana, he began working as a self-taught watchmaker in Hammond at the age of 22. He answered a classified ad for a watchmaker placed by Richard Sears in the "Chicago Daily News" in 1887 for his mail order company, R.W. Sears Watch Company. In 1893, the two men started their own mail-order company using catalogues, which came to be known as Sears, Roebuck and Company. Their association grew into one of the world's best-known business partnerships. Roebuck was a conservative business man, but Sears was not. At Roebuck's request, Sears purchased Roebuck's half of the company in 1895, yet he returned to the business to manage the store's division of watches, jewelry, eyeglasses, and other items. He also founded a company that manufactured and distributed motion picture projectors and was president of Emerson Typewriter Company, where he invented the "Woodstock" typewriter. Sears retired in 1913 and died in 1914. The first retail store opened in 1925 in Chicago. When Sears, as the store was being called, suffered a loss after the Stock Market Crash of 1929, Roebuck came out of retirement and began working for the store again in 1933. The company did financially recuperate. Roebuck wrote the history of the company. Although the legal name of the store remained Sears, Roebuck and Company, in the mid-1960s the store signs read "Sears."
Bio by: Linda Davis
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