The Relentless Perfectionism of Stanley Marcus

If you think your boss is relentless, how about dealing with 292 personal memos from the head honcho in the span of a month? That was the experience of Thomas E. Alexander, who worked for retailing legend–and prolific memo writer–Stanley Marcus back in the day as Neiman Marcus’ executive vice president for marketing. Alexander, who’s written a new memoir about working for Mr. Stanley, was one of the guests last night at a private party for a new show of Marcus’ photographs at the Dallas Museum of Art.

Mr. Stanley’s photos–you can also see some of them in the current issue of D Magazine–reveal a sharp eye for detail, which came as no surprise to Alexander. So how does he characterize his famous boss? “Genius,” the writer, Kerrville resident and Texas Historical Commission member answers quickly. “Relentless.” If some small detail required attention, Marcus would “find me at 3 a.m. in Australia, wherever I was,” he adds. Tentatively titled Stanley Marcus: The Relentless Rise of the Merchant Prince, Alexander’s new book (his fifth) is currently under consideration by two Texas publishers.