Merchant Robert Lauter remembered    

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 3/6/2008 1:44:00 PM

New York – Services were held here March 3 for legendary home furnishings executive Robert Lauter, 88, who died in California on Feb. 26.

Lauter was a major force in retail home furnishings, spending 40 years at Macy’s New York, W & J Sloane, and Burdines, Florida. He left Macy’s as svp of home furnishings having spent 24 years with the store, to join New York-based W & J Sloane which he headed for six years. He was with Burdines for 10 years when he retired in 1986. He then joined Joseph Cory Warehouse in Jersey City, N.J. as svp. He later became a consultant in the home furnishings market.

Lauter’s influence in the home furnishings world went back as far as his tenure at Macy’s where he spearheaded the concept of annual themed events such as The Far East, The Best of Britain, and The Mediterranean. It was during the Best of Britain event that home lifestyle icon Terence Conran made his major American debut.

Lauter is survived by two daughters, a son and seven grandchildren.

Memorials in his name can be made to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.