Donald Fisher, who co-founded Gap Inc. with his wife Doris 40 years ago, died on Sunday at age 81. Their international brand—which includes 3,100 Gaps, plus countless other Old Navies, Banana Republics, Piperlimes, and Athletas—began with a single store in San Francisco in 1969, named for the generation gap between boomers and their parents. It sold Levi’s jeans, tapes, and records at the time, but in 1983 president Millard Drexler overhauled the company and turned it into one of the most successful private-label apparel brands in American history.
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