Robert Sachs

Robert Sachs passed away November 19, 2019 after celebrating his 90th birthday in May. He lived a full life.

Robert came into this world on May 16, 1929, to parents Beatrice (nee Levin) and Solomon Sachs. He was an only child who grew up during the depression and pre-WWII years. He graduated from The Franklin School HS in New York City, and continued his studies at New York University in 1945. After graduating with a degree in Economics, he briefly worked for his father, who was an accountant turned entrepreneur, manufacturing drafting tables. Robert soon figured out that that wasn't his calling, took a small loan from his parents and purchased a first store in New Jersey. Eventually he would grow and run his own company "Michaels", which was headquartered in Los Angeles, with Art Supply stores in several cities in the US. Robert had left NY to move to Los Angeles in the late 1950's and would spend he rest of his life in Southern California, which he considered God's country.

Robert was considered a "young Turk" in the Arts Supply Industry, today we would call him an innovator, doing things his way and coming up with novel concepts. Before JIT and Fedex, he shipped urgent orders overnight as cargo. His company was an incubator, when most people thought that definition was for hatching chicks. Several employees worked for him, learning the ropes, and left to open their own successful stores. His major commercial clients included Disney and several aerospace companies, but he also catered to individual artists. Eventually he would manufacture some of the items that were sold in the stores. He even rated several mentions and anecdotes in a competitor's autobiography. After selling the company to a conglomerate, he briefly retired, but bought back some of the stores after that company mismanaged them. He sold the business when desktop publishing arrived, and when the rows of draftsmen (in those days, they typically were), were replaced by computers, CAD/CAM programs and word processors. In his later years, Robert focused on real estate investments.

Robert loved most sports as a spectator, but played basketball as a student, and lost his heart to tennis at a young age. He continued to play tennis throughout his life, until his early 80's. He was very vocal about his politics followed the financial markets, enjoyed travel, and good food. he loved meeting people. In his day, he also enjoyed chess, backgammon and a good poker game. He valued his friends and had many lifelong friendships. After many years in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, Robert and Kristina moved to Rancho Mirage, where he passed away. He was in love with Rancho Mirage and the desert, which he would tell all and sundry. His kind and devoted caregivers Rosa Palacios and later Alicia Piersol made in his last years easier.


Robert cherished his family. He is survived by his wife Karola Kristina Rietz, whom he met in 1996 and later married in 2006 (yes, it took ten years to figure it out), his two daughters from a prior marriage, Karen Sachs (partner Elliot Satsky), Claudia Sachs Kremen, his four grandsons Truman Dunn, Hayden Kremen, Emmett Dunn, and Arlo Kremen, his cousin Dr. Diane Sacks, and his favorite feline, Attila.

Robert had a good heart, lived life his way, and always had a soft spot for the underdog. He will be missed.



In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to:
AINITI www.ainiti.org
WELLS BRING HOPE www.wellsbringhope.org

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Those we love don't go away, they walk beside us every day!

DEATH is nothing at all.
I have only slipped away into the next room, I am I and you are you.
Whatever we were to each other, That, we still are. Call me by my old familiar name. Speak to me in the easy way which you always used. Puta no difference into your tone. Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household name that it was. Let it be spoken without effect. Without the trace of a shadow on it. Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same that it ever was. There is an absolute and unbroken continuity. WHY SHOULD I BE OUT OF MIND BECAUSE I AM OUT OF SIGHT?
I am but waiting for you. For an interval. Somewhere. Very near. Just around the corner. All is well.

-Henry Scott Holland-