Bruce Dayton, retail executive & philanthropist, Died at 97

Bruce Dayton was born on August 16, 1918, in Minneapolis and died November 13, 2015.

He was an American retail executive and philanthropist.

Bruce was the President and Chairman of Target.

His parents were Nelson Dayton and Grace Bliss.

Bruce graduated from Yale University in 1940 and served in the Army.

The Dayton brothers opened Southdale Center in Edina, Minnesota in 1956.

The company became a prototype for the suburban boom in enclosed shopping malls.

Mr Dayton and his wife contributed more than $80 million in capital, endowment and acquisition funds and more than 2000 works of art to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts..

The first Target discount store was opened in 1962 and the B. Dalton Bookseller chain four years later.

They later sold up to Barnes & Noble.

The brothers merged with the J.L. Hudson Co. of Detroit in 1969 to become the Dayton-Hudson Corp.

In 2000, the name of the company was changed to Target.

Bruce left behind his wife, the former Ruth Stricker, son Mark and three other children from his first marriage.

Bruce passed away at age 97 in November 2015.