Robert Cohen, the owner of United Men&#8217s Fashion on Bailey Avenue, followed in the

footsteps of his father and grandfather.

It wasn&#8217t easy. He started working at the men&#8217s clothing store &#8212 which takes

up half a city block in the Kensington-Bailey area &#8212 at age 15, and took ownership along

with his mother, Joan Friedman, when he was 21, six years after his father&#8217s sudden

death.

&#8220So now all of a sudden, this kid that longtime employees had known since birth was in

a position to be their boss. It was very difficult,&#8221 Cohen said. &#8220My dad was

fantastic. He was very well-liked by customers, by employees and he died when he was 46 years

old. The bar was pretty high.&#8221

For Cohen, it was an example of the unique burdens as well as rewards that go with owning

multi-

generational businesses.

Conditions eventually improved as employees retired or left the business and Cohen hired

new employees to work key positions. Cohen said he also tried to let his actions speak loudly.

&#8220I&#8217m comfortable leading by example. You roll up your sleeves and jump in with

everyone else. There&#8217s no prima donnas,&#8221 he said.

Cohen&#8217s experience is typical of generational ownership, said Harold Star, a strategic

management professor at the University at Buffalo.

The person who inherits the business often works harder than anybody just to prove they

deserve to be there, he said.

&#8220Because you have inherited the business, the employees tend to think of you as

somehow second rate, and it becomes a burden at least until the first generation exits the

business completely. They will always be suspect in every dimension &#8212 intellect,

judgment, &#8216Would the old man have done it this way,&#8217 &#8216It was better when the

old man ran it,&#8217&#8221 Star said.

&#8220It&#8217s a very heavy burden.&#8221

At Pacer Funeral Home, fourth-generation owners Paul and Todd Pacer bought the company

from their father, Frank, in 2008. He&#8217s still president of the company, and James Pacer,

an uncle, is also very involved. But both brothers say they don&#8217t feel like they&#8217re

under scrutiny by employees to measure up to their father.

&#8220What we have done is take the business and expand it,&#8221 Paul Pacer said.

The funeral home opened in Depew around 1919 when the brothers&#8217 great-grandfather,

also named Frank, began the business and their grandfather &#8212 another Frank &#8212

expanded into Buffalo&#8217s East Side in 1936. Their father later opened a third location.

Under the Pacer brothers, the funeral home now does embalming and preparation for many area

funeral homes, and owns several hearses and limousines also used by others.

There are family issues, sometimes, but that kind of comes with the turf, Paul Pacer said.

&#8220There can be tough times dealing with family, dealing with your brothers or sisters,

but like anything else, it&#8217s family, you get over it and move on,&#8221 he said.

&#8220This is your family. You don&#8217t always get along but that doesn&#8217t mean

anything. Sometimes you can show it more because it is family.&#8221

Star said family members who purchase a business, as opposed to simply inheriting it, are

often seen as having more credibility.

&#8220If the person buys the business, it doesn&#8217t mean they&#8217re any more

competent, but at least they are at more risk, and are seen as more legitimate,&#8221 Star

said.

Pamela Marsh took the reins of Marsh&#8217s General Store in 2003 in the Town of Niagara, near

the former Whistle Pig restaurant, after buying the business from her parents, Carl

&#8220Bud&#8221 and Katherine &#8220Katy&#8221 Marsh, who had purchased the business years

earlier from Carl Marsh&#8217s parents.

Pamela Marsh said she found it difficult when she was put in charge as a teenager, but not

when she later became owner.

&#8220The older employees didn&#8217t care for having a teenager tell them what to do, or

that maybe I knew more than they did,&#8221 Marsh said. &#8220But when I took the business

over, there were no problems at all.&#8221

Among the rewards with family-owned businesses that continue through the generations is a

deeper relationship that is forged with the community, Paul Pacer said.

&#8220I am still dealing with people and families that dealt with my grandparents, and know

them very well,&#8221 Pacer said. &#8220There is comfort for people in talking to a family

that they have dealt with for generations.&#8221

Cohen said United Men&#8217s Fashion has maintained a loyal and expanding customer base

&#8212 including strong regional business &#8212 even as the neighborhood went through changes

and few true men&#8217s stores stayed open in the Buffalo Niagara region.

&#8220We went from work clothes to fashion, with a pit stop in Ivy League in the &#821760s.

If somebody is looking for dress-up type clothing or special occasion, we&#8217re a one-stop

store,&#8221 Cohen said.

Serving the same families through the years has been particularly gratifying, Cohen said.

His grandfather, Morris, opened the store in 1929 in its current location at 3082 Bailey Ave.

When he died in 1960, Cohen&#8217s father, Marvin, ran the store until his death in 1969.

Cohen took ownership in 1975.

&#8220There is a certain pride that you have in a family business that has been passed on

three generations. We have people who came in as children and are now coming in with their

children,&#8221 Cohen said.

&#8220That&#8217s the case even in terms of the level of service you want to give people.

It&#8217s not that you want to see somebody once; if you want repeat business, you want people

to believe in the store the way you believe in it.&#8221