Robert Dayton, a scion of the department store family and downtown Minneapolis civic booster, has died of complications from pneumonia in Naples, Fla.
Dayton, 73, was a great-grandson of Dayton's Department Store founder George Draper Dayton and one of 16 first cousins to Gov. Mark Dayton. He spent a career in the family business both at Dayton's and at Harold.
"Bob was like my big brother growing up, and we have been good friends for life," Gov. Dayton said in a statement. "We had many spirited political discussions, but they were always warmhearted. For us, blood was always thicker than politics."
After graduating from Yale in 1964, Robert Dayton started his retail career in the women's shoe department at Dayton's, eventually rising in the company to become general merchandise manager and vice president of stores.
With a passion for merchandising, Dayton had an eye for identifying and supporting designers early in their careers, including Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein.
"He had such charisma and usually had a smile on his face," said Mary Hughes, the divisional manager of the Oval Room at the time. "He was sarcastic to the guys and darling to the women. He was a dear friend."
In 1977, he left Dayton's and purchased the upscale women's department store Harold downtown. "Harold was the ultimate fancy store in Minneapolis," said former Secretary of State Joan Growe. "It was the place to shop for a special occasion. My mother and I went there to shop for something after I was first elected secretary of state."
In 1984, Dayton pushed the development of the Conservatory on Nicollet Mall, an enclosed downtown mall that went against the trend of suburban malls. Criticized for being dark and labyrinthine, the effort was deemed a failure, shuttered and razed. The U.S. Bank headquarters building eventually replaced it.
