Louis Leonard Glickfield

Louis Leonard Glickfield, the Marlo Furniture Company founder who built Marlo into the largest furniture retail chain in the DC-MD-VA region, died on August 15, 2024 at the age of 92. As a child of the Depression who at a young age displayed a business acumen and passion for negotiating and buying and selling, Lou went from selling used furniture out of the back of a truck to overseeing the creation of five Marlo Furniture warehouse showrooms throughout the metropolitan area totaling over 800,000 sq ft of space.

Lou built his first warehouse showroom in Forestville, MD in 1972 to compete with Levitz Furniture which was slated to enter the DC-area market with three massive warehouse showrooms, a novel retail concept at the time. A cover story in the Washington Post Business section in March, 1977 put it this way: "In one of the nation's most competitive major retail furniture marketplaces, Marlo has been growing during an era when Levitz brought its huge showroom concept here and the recession put many big names in furniture out of business." Adding "Glickfield's achievement is pure 'Horatio Alger'."

After the Forestville store and the already existing flagship store on 7th and I Streets NW, Lou went on to create warehouse showrooms in Alexandria/Springfield, VA, Laurel, MD and Rockville, MD, employing over 600 people. In spite of its dramatic growth, Lou always thought of Marlo as a family business.

Lou's business strategy was simple. He used his negotiating prowess to buy 'close-outs' from the major furniture manufacturers and other items on very favorable terms so he could pass along the savings to Marlo's clients. He advertised aggressively, making sure the public knew that Marlo's prices beat out its competitors.

Lou won many retail awards over the years, most notably Top 50 Retailer in the United States from 'Furniture Today', the Showcase Retailer of the Year award in 1990 from GE Retail System, and the Maryland-DC Furniture Hall of Fame and Retailer of the Decade from the Home Furnishings Representative Assocation.

Lou was entrepreneurial from the start. Wanting to help out his family who struggled financially, Lou as a seven-year-old took the subway every day from the Bronx where he lived to Times Square to set up a shoe-shine station. As a teenager, he worked as a hotel bellboy and ran a little operation out of a hotel closet selling toiletries, discovering he had a natural talent for retail.

After moving to DC in high school, Lou excelled in sports, especially in football. An All-Met player for the Central High School football team that won the citywide championship in 1948, he continued playing football for the University of Maryland for two years and then the semi-professional football league Car Credit in Pennsylvania from 1950-56.

Lou met his future, beloved wife Marilyn Holober at a dance at the JCC on 16th and Q Streets NW to the tune of Louis Armstrong's 'Kiss of Fire', and within two years they were married, in 1953, and started to build a family. Their marriage lasted 71 years. Lou was very devoted to Marilyn, always expressing his love for her, and a devoted family man. Lou leaves behind four children: Cheryl Numark of Washington, DC, Marla Schram of West Hills, CA, Neal Glickfield of Washington, DC and Delray Beach, FL and Adam Glickfield of Miami Beach, FL; and five grandchildren and two great grandchildren. His memory will live on in the hearts of those who knew and loved him.

Outside of business, Lou and his wife Marilyn always wanted to give back to their community and have been very philanthropic over the years, establishing the Glickfield Family Foundation to support numerous regional and international charities including the Anti-Defamation League, the Whitman-Walker Clinic, Hadassah Hospital in Israel and World Central Kitchen and many others.

Funeral services will be 10 a.m. on Tuesday, August 20, 2024 at Washington Hebrew Congregation, 3935 Macomb St. NW, Washington, DC 20016 with burial to follow at King David Cemetery, Falls Church, VA. The family will be observing shiva at Marilyn's home on Tuesday and Wednesday from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. with a minyan service at 7:30 p.m. Donations in loving memory of Lou can be made to the ADL at https://support.adl.org/LouisGlickfield

Service entrusted to Sagel Bloomfield Danzanksy Goldberg Funeral Care.