Portal:Philadelphia/Selected biography/August 2006

A portrait of John Wanamaker.

John Wanamaker was a United States businessman, civic and political figure, considered the father of the department store and the father of modern advertising. Wanamaker was born in 1838 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He founded the Wanamaker's department store, which is one of the first, if not the first, department store in the United States. At Wanamaker's death in 1922, his estate was estimated to be US$100 million.