David Feld, founder of Today's Man menswear chain, dies at 78

Services were held Tuesday for David Feld, 78, founder of Today's Man, a popular men's specialty store chain in the 1980s and '90s, who passed away of cancer at a hospital in Boca Raton, Fla., on Monday.

Feld, the son of Holocaust survivors, grew up working in his family's clothing store in southern New Jersey. In 1971, at the age of 23, he recognized a void in the market for moderately priced men's tailored clothing and opened his first store in Philadelphia, calling it Today's Man.

The stores were large - 25,000 square feet or bigger - and were considered superstores. The concept turned out to be successful and Feld expanded the business to more than 25 stores in the New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., areas, as Feld envisioned building the business into a national chain.

"Our objective is to [be] the dominant menswear retailer in every market we serve," Feld told Daily News Record, the now-defunct brother publication to WWD, in 1992.

That same year, the business went public, eventually growing to around 35 stores.

However, within a couple of years, declining sales, over-expansion and an inability to pull off an out-of-court restructuring forced Today's Man to file bankruptcy in early 1996. Feld, the company's largest shareholder with a 52 percent stake, filed personal bankruptcy on the same day.

Although it continued to operate on a smaller scale for several years, Today's Man ultimately failed and went out of business in 2003.

In recent years, Feld was chairman of American Financial Advisors, a real estate development and funding business, according to his LinkedIn page.

The menswear industry reacted to Feld's passing on Tuesday with many calling him an incredible merchant. "Another chapter closes in the history of menswear," longtime sales rep Gary Lowy wrote on Facebook. "He built an incredible business."

"One of the all-time great merchants and dreamers," added Russ Caputo, another menswear executive.

He is survived by a son, Michael Feld, and a daughter Samantha Feld. Michael Feld said he would be sitting shiva through Monday at his home in Woodmere, N.Y.