Robert Haft

Robert Michael Haft is an entrepreneur, primarily in health care, and became a household name in the Washington, D.C., Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, and Los Angeles markets for his Crown Books television commercial tagline, "Books cost too much, so I opened Crown Books. Now you'll never pay full price again."

Education Haft earned a B.S. in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1974. He simultaneously earned an MBA from Harvard Business School as well as a master's degree from Harvard's School of Design.

Dart Group Based on a thesis he wrote in business school, Haft founded Crown Books, a discount book chain and a subsidiary of the Dart Group, in 1977 after traveling around the country for five months learning about the book business. His father, Herbert Haft, funded the initiative. They also founded Cabot Morgan real estate company, Dart Financial, and purchased an interest in Shoppers Food Warehouse.

In 1982, he was appointed president and chief operating officer of its parent company, Dart Group, which made him "one of the youngest executives to head a major national company" at 29 years old. After he left, both previously successful chains fell into Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

With a portion of the money from the sale of his interest in Dart Group, and proceeds from a 1994 wrongful-termination lawsuit, Haft purchased Phar-Mor discount drug chain in 1995, founded and grew Vitamins.com, which had internet, retail, and catalog operations, and has led National Diabetic Pharmacies and other health care businesses. In 1997, he founded Morgan Noble Healthcare Partners, a private company that invests in healthcare services and healthcare technology, which has invested in companies like Privia Healthcare, Captify Health, and Carestream Health.

In 2005, he founded MainStreet Lender, which provides lending services for small business borrowers.

Personal life He is married to Mary Haft.

In 2007, he donated $2 million to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania to establish the Robert Haft Entrepreneur-in-Residence Endowment Fund.

He is additionally on the board of directors for Canadian book company Indigo.