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John Wanamaker, circa 1920.
Credit: Courtesy of the Pennsylvania State Archives
One of the nation's greatest retailers, John Wanamaker made pathbreaking use of advertising, windows displays, electric lighting, and other marketing innovations, including a national Mother’s Day celebration–and accompanying Mother’s Day sales. When Wanamaker died, at the age of 84, in 1922, he left an estate of close to $100 million (close to $1.3billion today).