E.J. Korvette Department Store, IL. (1948-1980) Mug

THE MYTH: “E.J. Korvette” was not a person, but rather an acronym that stood for “Eight Jewish Korean War Veterans.” Army brothers who started the chain stores after they were discharged home. THE TRUTH is that E.J. Korvette (initially a retailer of leather goods) was founded in 1948, two years before the Korean War began, by a Jewish World War II veteran named Eugene Ferkauf and his friend, Joe Zwillenberg Eugene Ferkauf explained the nomenclature thusly: "I had a name picked out for the store, E.J. Korvette. “E” is for Eugene, my first name, and “J” stands for Joe Swillenberg, my associate, and my pal. As for “Korvette,” it was originally meant to be spelled with a “C” after the Canadian marine sub-destroyer, simply because I thought the name had a euphonious ring. When it came time to register the name, we found it was illegal to use a Canadian naval class identity, so we had to change the spelling to 'K'."