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In 1978, Arthur Blank co-founded The Home Depot, the world’s largest home improvement retailer. Last year, when he retired from the company as co-chairman, The Home Depot was a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and one of Fortune Magazines “Global Most Admired Companies.” Arthur Blank was born in Queens, New York in 1942. He received an accounting degree from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts and worked as an accountant before joining the small pharmaceutical firm started by his father. Blank later became an executive at a Daylin drugstore unit. He then moved over to the Handy Dan Improvement Centers where he met Bernard Marcus. In 1978, Arthur Blank and Bernard Marcus were fired by Handy Dan. In 1979, they opened their first three Home Depot stores in Atlanta, employing 200 associates with $7 million in sales, but lost nearly $1 million. In 1980, the stores were profitable and the company went public in 1981. By the end of 1998, Home Depot had grown to 761 stores, employing 157,000 associates with $30.2 billion in sales. Home Depot was named Fortune magazine’s Most Admired Retailer for 5 consecutive years. Arthur Blank created Home Depot in a way that brought innovations to the marketpl