Chairman of nation’s largest family owned department store passes away

Albert Boscov, chairman of Boscov's Department Store, LLC, died on Friday of cancer at the age of 87, the department store company announced.

Company officials say he was surrounded by his wife and three daughters in his last moments.

Boscov's father, Solomon Boscov, started the family business in 1914 in Reading, Pa. Under Albert Boscov's tenure, the company grew to be the largest family owned department store chain in the country, company officials said.

Annual sales exceed $1 billion and company employs more than 7,500 people. The store has several locations in Delaware and Maryland, including one in Dover and Salisbury.

"Albert Boscov was truly one of the giants in the retail industry," Jim Boscov, CEO of Boscov's said. "He was a man of vision and passion and he had a profound influence on the retail business community and the community at large."

Company officials say Jim Boscov is the third generation of the Boscov family to lead the company.