Executives: Mr. Jack Steps Aside

Like many of the man's longtime friends, Safeway Stores Chairman Robert A. Magowan marvels at the way Jack Straus "still thinks of Macy's in the same terms that most men think of wives and honor." Or, he might add, of family. One of the great U.S. retailing baronies, R. H. Macy & Co. has thrived 'under three generations of Strauses, none of them more successful than "Mr. Jack," who has held sway over Macy's headquarters in Manhattan's Herald Square for three decades.

Last week, at 68, Straus stepped aside, leaving Macy's without a Straus in command for the first time...