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{{Short description|American entrepreneur and clothing retailer}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2024}}
'''Gary Campbell Comer''' (December 10, 1927 – October 4, 2006) was the founder of [[mail order]] clothing retailer [[Lands' End]].<ref name="dhevesi">Dennis Hevesi, [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/06/business/06comer.html?_r=0 "Gary C. Comer, 78, Founder of Lands’ End, Dies,"] ''[[New York Times]]'', October 6, 2006.</ref>

==Early life==
Born on the [[South Side of Chicago]] in the [[Greater Grand Crossing, Chicago|Grand Crossing neighborhood]], Comer graduated from the Paul Revere Elementary School in 1942 and Hyde Park High School in 1946. From 1950 to 1960, he worked as a [[copywriter]] at [[Young & Rubicam]] in Chicago. After quitting, he traveled around Europe for a year, and then, having been an avid sailor from childhood, he began his own business supplying sailing equipment.<ref name="rkogan">Rick Kogan, [https://www.chicagotribune.com/2006/10/05/gary-comer-1927-2006/ "Gary Comer: 1927 - 2006,"] ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'', October 5, 2006.</ref>

==Lands' End==
In the Spring of 1963, Comer founded [[Lands' End]], along with his close friend [[Robert Halperin]], [[Richard Stearns (sailor)|Richard Stearns]], and two of Stearns' employees.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://anbhf.org/laureates/gary-comer/|title=American National Business Hall of Fame|publisher=Anbhf.org |date= 24 October 2014|accessdate=July 17, 2015 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141107144835/http://anbhf.org/laureates/gary-comer/ | archivedate= 7 November 2014}}</ref> They started it originally as a retailer of sailing supplies and equipment (based on a mail order equipment business begun a year earlier). Comer was president until 1990, including following Lands' End's registration as a public company, when he stepped down from active management. He remained a major shareholder until Lands' End was acquired by [[Sears]] in 2002.<ref name="dhevesi"/>

==Philanthropy==
Comer was a long-time [[philanthropist]], donating money to causes including children's health care, education and the study of [[global climate change]]. He opened the Gary Comer Youth Center which serves as the anchor institution to Gary Comer Middle School and Gary Comer College Prep, a campus of the Noble Network of Charter Schools. In 2011, the Gary Comer Youth Center and Gary Comer College Prep won the [[Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence]] silver medal.<ref name="Bruner Foundation">{{cite web|title=Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence|url=http://www.brunerfoundation.org/rba/index.php?page=Past&sidebar=1#2011|work=Winners & Case Studies|publisher=Bruner Foundation|accessdate=7 January 2014}}</ref> Comer was a major contributor to the [[University of Chicago]], providing more than $84 million in donations leading to the establishment and expansion of the [[Comer Children's Hospital]] at the University of Chicago.<ref name="rkogan"/> He also donated to [[Columbia University]] in support of geochemistry research at [[Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory|Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=5 October 2006 |title=Lands' End Founder Gary Comer Dead |url=https://multichannelmerchant.com/news/lands-end-founder-gary-comer-dead/ |access-date=2022-06-26 |website=Multichannel Merchant |language=en-US}}</ref> The Gary C. Comer Geochemistry Building at the Lamont Observatory is named in his honor.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gary C. Comer Geochemistry Building {{!}} Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory |url=https://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/lamont-campus/gary-c-comer-geochemistry-building |access-date=2022-06-26 |website=www.ldeo.columbia.edu}}</ref>

==Death==
Comer succumbed to [[prostate cancer]] on October 4, 2006, at his home in Chicago surrounded by his family.<ref name="rkogan"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/06/061005.comer.shtml University of Chicago News Office Article]
*[http://www.uchospitals.edu/news/2006/20061004-comer.html University of Chicago Medical Center Article]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Comer, Gary}}
[[Category:1927 births]]
[[Category:2006 deaths]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Chicago]]
[[Category:American retail chief executives]]
[[Category:Deaths from prostate cancer in Illinois]]
[[Category:University of Chicago people]]
[[Category:American male sailors (sport)]]
[[Category:Star class sailors]]
[[Category:20th-century American businesspeople]]
[[Category:American philanthropists]]
[[Category:20th-century American sportsmen]]

Gary Comer - Revision history

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