4. The Store’s Second Owner, Isidor Straus, Died on the Titanic
Image from Wikimedia Commons in public domain
Isidor Straus assumed ownership of Macy’s Herald Square with his brother Nathan in 1895, years after R.H. Macy’s death and the company’s passing through members of the Macy Family. Isidor Straus is the owner who actually oversaw the construction of the Herald Square store, but died only ten years after its opening aboard the Titanic with his wife, Ida. They were portrayed for a moment in the James Cameron film Titanic as the elderly couple who remain in their room even as the ship floods. In their memory, the seventh floor of the Herald Square store includes a plaque, known as the “My Heart Will Go On” plaque.