Surplus-store icon Charles Goldberg, 87

Charles Goldberg, 87, of Wynnewood, chairman of I. Goldberg, the venerable Army-Navy store on Chestnut Street, died of a heart attack yesterday at Bryn Mawr Terrace.

For more than 50 years, Mr. Goldberg presided over three floors of merchandise that at any given time included Norwegian helmets, World War II Soviet overcoats, bobblehead Marines, Royal Air Force bush jackets, German army nightshirts, and gas masks - as well as practical rain ponchos and camping gear.

Since 2004, Mr. Goldberg, who had Parkinson's disease, worked on the lower level with the military-surplus inventory. That was his specialty, said his daughter, Nana Goldberg DeLia, who operated the firm with her father. He loved what he did and was at work until six weeks ago, DeLia said.

"It's a hard business, a very complex business," Mr. Goldberg told an Inquirer reporter in 2006.

A few years earlier, he said in an Inquirer interview that the business required salesclerks who were outgoing and well-versed. "A good salesman knows that you are going to put yourself in their hands," he said, "and because of that they know they have to be honest. Honesty - that's the key to it all."

In 1919, when the U.S. government began selling off its World War I surplus, Mr. Goldberg's father, Isaac, bought 1,000 pairs of shoes and 50,000 pairs of long underwear and sold them at a profit. Earlier in the century, Isaac, a Lithuanian immigrant, had peddled dry goods in rural Montgomery County.

"My father was a great trader. He worked on a short profit and got in and out," Mr. Goldberg told an Inquirer reporter in 1978.

Between world wars, Isaac Goldberg moved into the retail Army-Navy business. Charles Goldberg, who grew up in Wynnefield, began working with his father at age 12. During World War II, he served in the Army Signal Corps in Belgium.

After his discharge, he returned to the family business. The 1960s and 1970s saw a rush of young people to the store for what Mr. Goldberg called "rebellion clothes." As a buyer, he took advantage of trends; at trade show in 1994, he purchased 5,000 green bags from Belgium "perfect for carrying Evian water."

He preferred custom-made shirts and suits to the flannel shirts, khakis, and Timberland boots popular with his customers, his daughter said.

Since 1949, Mr. Goldberg had been married to Eddie Ann Goldberg. The couple met at Overbrook High School. Their class was seated alphabetically, and they sat next to each other because they shared the same last name, their daughter said.

A sports fan, Mr. Goldberg frequently attended Flyers, Eagles, Phillies, and 76ers games.

In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Goldberg is survived by a son, Carl; a brother; a sister; and three grandchildren.

The funeral will be held at 1 p.m. tomorrow at Joseph Levine & Sons Memorial Chapel, 4747 Street Rd., Trevose. Burial will be in Roosevelt Memorial Park, Trevose.