Gordon M. Metcalf; Former Chairman of Sears, Roebuck

PALM DESERT —  Gordon M. Metcalf, the former Sears, Roebuck & Co. chairman responsible for creating the world’s tallest building, has died. He was 85.

Metcalf died Monday at Eisenhower Medical Center of acute respiratory arrest caused by lung cancer, said his daughter, Jill Metcalf McIntyre.

Metcalf presided over Sears from 1967 until he retired in 1973, leading the giant retailer through a period of expansion. He was behind the construction of the Sears Tower, a landmark in the Chicago skyline and, at 1,454 feet, the world’s tallest building. Construction began in 1970 and was completed in 1974.

Metcalf, a native of Sioux City, Iowa, graduated from Morningside College in that city. He attended Northwestern University in Chicago for graduate studies, then joined Sears in 1933.

From 1948 to 1957 he was general manager of Sears retail stores in the Chicago area. He became vice president of the Midwest region, then was named chairman and chief executive.

He was also a director of Allstate Insurance Cos., First National Bank of Chicago and other companies.

He married Marrien Marguerite Sturdevant in 1933. She died in 1989.

Metcalf lived in Palm Desert for 21 years, his daughter said, and was active in several organizations there. He was one of the founders of Eisenhower, where he died, and a co-founder of the McCallum Theater in Rancho Mirage.

He is survived by McIntyre, a resident of Tyler, Tex.; his son, Jack Metcalf of Clearwater, Fla., and a second daughter, Judith Lynn Scott of Canton, Tex., as well as 10 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.