Norman Emanuel, 86, who worked in the Chicago retail furniture industry for 62 years and was one of the first to open an Ethan Allen gallery store in the country, died Wednesday, Jan. 31, of pneumonia in Highland Park Hospital. Mr. Emanuel and his wife, Sarah, co-founded and served on the board of Ethan Allen Carriage House, which is among the largest furniture galleries in the country. He was serving as chairman of the Carriage House board at the time of his death. He had been in the furniture business since he was hired as a furniture salesman on the North Side in 1939. Just over a year later, he married the former Sarah Linsky, the daughter of his onetime employer. When his father-in-law died in the early 1950s, Mr. Emanuel and his wife took over the business, expanding it to locations in Westmont and Downers Grove and opening the first Ethan Allen Carriage House in 1968 in Wheaton. The couple later opened stores at five other locations in the area. Mr. Emanuel was the son of German immigrants and returned to Germany in the 1930s to bring back relatives before World War II, said his son Ronald, who added that his father used words like “honor” and “integrity” with his employees. “He didn’t need lawyers or contracts. If he told somebody something was going to happen, that was it. He didn’t like the details, he just had a strong moral commitment,” he said. Mr. Emanuel and his wife spent their winters in San Diego, where they helped found Jewish congregation Temple Adat Shalom, and most recently in Boca Raton. He spent as much time as possible in the company of his family and friends. Mr. Emanuel is also survived by another son, Barry; two sisters, Jacqueline Hirsch and Irene Scheck; eight grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. Services for Mr. Emanuel were held Thursday in Highland Park.
