Head of firm that became Target

Kenneth A. Macke, 69, a former chairman and chief executive of Dayton Hudson Corp., which became Target Corp., died Saturday of complications from Parkinson’s disease in Napa, Calif.

Born in Templeton, Iowa, Macke grew up in Carroll, Iowa, and started his retail career at the age of 15 as a shoe salesman. After graduating from Drake University in 1961 with a bachelor’s degree, he started work as a sales trainee at Dayton Hudson, the Minneapolis-based department store chain. He rose through the ranks to become chairman and chief executive of Target, which then was a division of Dayton Hudson. When he was chosen to run the Target division in 1976 there were just 49 stores in nine states. When he left in 1983 there were 137 stores in 16 states. Now there are more than 1,600 Target stores across the country.

He went on to become chairman and chief executive of the entire Dayton Hudson Co., a post he held for 12 years before taking early retirement in 1994 at age 55.

When he left, Dayton Hudson was among the top five largest retail merchandisers in the country. Its annual revenue was $19.23 billion, which was about three times greater than the $6.5 billion in revenues when he took over.

Dayton Hudson was renamed Target Corp. in 1999.