William Modell Dies in New York

William Modell, head of the Modell’s Sporting Goods chain for more than 40 years, died yesterday in New York. He was 86.

The cause of death was complications from prostate cancer.

William Modell joined the family business, founded by his grandfather, at the end of World War II and became chairman in 1985. But he had effectively run the corporation since 1963, working alongside his father, Henry, who was then chairman.

During his tenure, William Modell helped turn it from a 10-store operation in New York City and suburban Long Island into a 136-unit chain in eight states and Washington, D.C. In 1996, the company paid $2.5 million for the bankrupt Herman’s World of Sporting Goods (Carteret, N.J.), one of Modell’s biggest competitors, gaining 15 outlets in New Jersey and in the Baltimore and Washington areas.

The business, the nation’s oldest family-owned-and-operated sporting goods retailer, was founded in 1889 by Morris Modell, who began selling clothes to sailors on shore leave. He established a store on Cortlandt Street in lower Manhattan that supplied outfits for Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War. It continued to thrive by selling Army surplus merchandise after World War I and by discounting heavily during the Great Depression in the 1930s.

After World War II, the company established the Modell Veterans Training Center in lower Manhattan, helping thousands of unskilled or unemployed veterans learn the retail business. It also moved to the suburbs, where families fleeing the cities needed familiar places to shop.

All seven of Morris Modell’s sons worked there. One son, Henry, became the company's president in 1920 and chairman in 1937. The firm is now called Henry Modell & Co. Inc. and still based in New York. 

William Modell devoted much of his efforts in later life to fighting Crohn’s disease, an inflammation of the digestive tract that claimed the life of his son Michael in 2001. He was a founder of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America.

Another son, Mitchell, is currently ceo of the company.