After getting fired together from a hardware business in the 1970s, Bernard Marcus and Arthur Blank set out to build their own retail chain. They started with a few stores in Atlanta and built Home Depot into a national powerhouse that made them both billionaires.

The Republican donor was also a prolific philanthropist whose numerous gifts included funds to build the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta.

Bernard “Bernie” Marcus, the billionaire co-founder of Home Depot who has been an ardent supporter of former President Donald Trump for years, has died, the chain announced Tuesday. He was 95. Marcus, whom Forbes has previously listed as the richest ...