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<p>Former employees of Boscov&#8217;s Department Store in Wilkes-Barre agree on one thing &#8212; Boscov&#8217;s is a family.</p><p>So it&#8217;s no surprise that former workers at the store were saddened to learn of chairman Al Boscov&#8217;s passing Friday night from pancreatic cancer at the age of 87.</p><p>&#8220;I was sad,&#8221; said Lisa McGahee, who worked in the downtown store for nearly two decades before leaving in 2015. &#8220;It&#8217;s a family-run business, but that carried into the employees.&#8221;</p><p>Boscov founded the chain of department stores that bear his name. Locally, the company has locations in downtown Wilkes-Barre, Scranton and Hazleton. Boscov&#8217;s &#8212; the largest family-owned department store chain in the nation &#8212; has 50 stores throughout the eastern United States, with corporate headquarters in Reading.</p><p>The company employs 7,500 people.</p><p>During the &#8217;80s and &#8217;90s, McGahee said the company held summer picnics at Dorney Park in Allentown. Al Boscov would close the company for one day during the summer and invite all its employees and their families.</p><p>During one of the picnics, Boscov polka-danced with McGahee.</p><p>&#8220;That was a highlight,&#8221; she said.</p><p>Kevin Stevenson, who left the store in April 2014, worked in the men&#8217;s department for more than four years. He called Boscov an intelligent man.</p><p>&#8220;The company wouldn&#8217;t be around without him,&#8221; said Stevenson, of Nanticoke.</p><p>Stevenson said he never met the late chairman, but he was working one night when Boscov came to town to do a surprise walk-through. Though he never wound up seeing Boscov face-to-face, Stevenson said he was &#8220;nervous.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I was in a department that wasn&#8217;t my usual department,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Stevenson said he still uses lessons learned during his days at Boscov&#8217;s.</p><p>&#8220;I learned how to deal with people. &#8230; It made me more sociable,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Diana Petrowski, who now lives in Georgia, worked in cosmetics at the store for a short time. She said she made friends who became like family.</p><p>Petrowski said she would return to work for the store if there were a Boscov&#8217;s near her.</p><p>&#8220;I really enjoyed working for Boscov,&#8221; Petrowski said. &#8220;I was overcome by sadness when I heard that he had passed.&#8221;</p><p>McGahee remembers when actress Sophia Loren came to Wilkes-Barre to help Boscov open the store in 1980. She said she was in the children&#8217;s department on the second floor.</p><p>&#8220;It was a movie moment,&#8221; McGahee said. &#8220;He was beaming, she was smiling.&#8221;</p><p>Both McGahee and Petrowski said they hope the store lives up to the Boscov legacy.</p><p>&#8220;I hope that his family continues to operate Boscov&#8217;s with the love that Albert had for it,&#8221; Petrowski said.</p><p>For more on Al Boscov&#8217;s legacy, <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/tag/alboscov" target="_blank">click here</a>.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">In this 2016 file photo, Boscov&#8217;s customer Ruthann Rudick, of Swoyersville chats with Al Boscov. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_boscov04-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>In this 2016 file photo, Boscov&#8217;s customer Ruthann Rudick, of Swoyersville chats with Al Boscov. </caption0><photoCredit0>Pete G. Wilcox file photo | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Melanie Mizenko</p><p>mmizenko@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Melanie Mizenko at 570-991-6116 or on Twitter @TL_MMizenko</p></shirttailMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta><p><table style="border:none;width:98%;" class="mceItemTable"><tbody><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoID:</td><td id="videoid" style="width:50em;font-size:90%;"> hgGZnKaG8fI</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoType:</td><td id="videotype" style="font-size:90%;"> YOUTUBE</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">URL:</td><td id="url" style="font-size:90%;"> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgGZnKaG8fI</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Embed String:</td><td id="videoembedstring" style="font-size:90%;"> &lt;iframe width=&#8221;560&#8221; height=&#8221;315&#8221; src=&#8221;https://www.youtube.com/embed/hgGZnKaG8fI&#8221; frameborder=&#8221;0&#8221; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Caption:</td><td id="videocaption" style="font-size:90%;"> Local businessmen react to the death of Al Boscov.</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Credit:</td><td id="videocredit" style="font-size:90%;"> Brigid Edmunds</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Position:</td><td id="videoposition" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></p><p style="margin-top:10px;font-size:70%;color:#555;">(use the &#8220;for files&#8230;&#8221; link above to associate attached files with this source)</p></videoMeta></div>

Former employees of Wilkes-Barre’s Boscov’s store remember beloved boss