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Feuerstein gained national fame for continuing to pay 1,400
workers displaced from the Malden Mills factory in Lawrence,
Mass., known for its Polartec fleece fabric.
"For my father, the most important stakeholders were his factory
workers," said Daniel Feuerstein, adding that his father died of
complications after a fall at home in Brookline, Mass. last
week.
Feuerstein rebuilt the factory north of Boston with insurance
money but eventually lost control of the business founded by his
grandfather, which once employed about 3,000 people. Polartec is
now a brand of Milliken & Co.
Yet the blunt-spoken Feuerstein became an icon at a time when
many business leaders were celebrated for laying off workers and
cutting costs to maximize profits.
Just after the fire Feuerstein said, "I'm not throwing 3,000
people out of work two weeks before Christmas," a Malden Mills
executive once told the Boston Globe newspaper.
Ultimately Feuerstein paid wages to all 1,400 workers displaced
by the fire for 90 days and extended their health benefits. Many
were immigrants from Lawrence and the nearby city of Lowell,
Mass.
"His workers were his people, his community," said Daniel
Feuerstein.
(Reporting by Ross Kerber in Boston; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
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