This week, Sy Syms, a tenacious NYC based retailer passed away. Known for selling name brand business apparel at deeply discount prices, and his tag line, that “An Educated Consumer is our Best Customer,” he brought discount retailing to Manhattan, took his chain public, and just recently purchased the Filene’s Basement chain. He even once sued U.S. Steel in a real estate dispute. Syms, 83, was born Seymour Merinsky, but the mishpacha changed their name to Merns, and Sy, after a legal dispute with his own brother, changed his name to Syms. So… why do I mention him on Jewlicious? Cuz he was an equal opportunity giver. He gave to the local Catholic archidiocese, he was a member of and giver to Temple Emanu-el, the largest Reform movement congregation in the area, and he endowed the Sy Syms School of Business at that bastion of Morethodoxy, Yeshiva University.
