Saks was born to a German Jewish family, in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Helena and William Saks (born 1810 or -11, Kingdom of Bavaria).
[2] He worked as a peddler and paper boy before moving to Washington, D.C., where he established a men's clothing store[3] with his brother Isadore[4] in 1867.
In 1902, they opened a store in New York on 34th Street as Saks & Company.
Saks ran the New York store as a family affair with his brother Isadore, and his sons Horace and William.
[6] In 1923, his son Horace sold a majority interest in Saks & Company[3] to Gimbel Brothers, Inc. for $8 million which included Saks & Company's $4.5 million flagship store that was under construction; Horace Saks remained as president.