William T. Dillard
From FranaWiki
William T. Dillard Sr. (1914-2002) was the founder of Dillard's Department Stores.
Dillard was born in 1914 in Mineral Springs, Arkansas, to a country store owner. Dillard received a bachelor's degree from the University of Arkansas in 1935 and a master's degree from Columbia University. He worked first at Sears, then opened a store of his own in Nashville, Arkansas, in 1938. Dillard purchased Brown-Dunkin of Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1960. In 1963 he purchased the Pfeifer Brothers Department Store and the Blass Department Store in Little Rock.
By the late 1990s the chain had more than three hundred stores, 43,000 employees, and $6.6 billion in annual sales.
