GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — Frederik Meijer, who built the
regional retail powerhouse Meijer Inc. while nurturing his lifelong love
of the arts, died late Friday at a hospital in western Michigan. He was
91.
The billionaire passed away at the Spectrum Health System in
Grand Rapids after suffering a stroke in his home early Friday morning,
according to a statement issued by the company.
Meijer was
credited with starting the supercenter store format in the 1960s that
made Meijer a successful Midwest retailer. By 2009, Meijer had 180 of
the giant stores throughout Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and
Ohio with annual sales of $15 billion.
He and his wife also gave millions of dollars to causes in the Grand Rapids area, and arts projects were
major benefactors.
"The
Meijer family thanks everyone for their thoughts and prayers and
requests their privacy be respected at this difficult time," the
company’s statement said.
Meijer was 14 when his Dutch immigrant
father, Hendrik, opened his first grocery store in Greenville in 1934
with $338.76 worth of merchandise purchased on credit. The younger
Meijer worked 40 hours a week at the store throughout high school.
"We
were hard up, and you know what? I didn’t even feel deprived," he said
in a 2002 interview. "I had a good time in the store, I was a decent
student in school — I had a B-plus average."
Meijer and his father
expanded their grocery operation in 1962 to include general
merchandise, creating their first Thrifty Acres supercenter.
"I really enjoyed working with my dad till he died (in 1964, at age 80)," Meijer said. "We
had a marvelous relationship."
The
stores were renamed Meijer in 1984, and the company became one of the
nation’s largest family-owned retail businesses. Frederik Meijer was 82
before he took the title of chairman emeritus and began devoting less
time to the company.
One of his three sons, Hank Meijer,
previously said his father never thought he knew more than anyone else,
so he trusted people to do their jobs and listened to the advice of
others.
Meijer was born Dec. 7, 1919, in Greenville and in 1946
married Lena Rader after meeting her at the first Meijer store in
Greenville, where she was a clerk. They spent their honeymoon visiting
new stores.
The Meijers donated generously to programs in the Grand Rapids area through the foundation he established
in 1990.
The
Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, a 125-acre botanical
garden outside Grand Rapids, opened in 1995. A 30-acre sculpture park
featuring two dozen works by important modern sculptors was added seven
years later.
Meijer collected sculptures for years, filling a
garage with statues of animals and people before he found a home for
many of them in the botanical garden. Those pieces, placed throughout
the garden, are separate from the works in the sculpture area.
His
interest in the arts stemmed from his youth. Even in the hardest of
times, his parents made sure their children learned about culture.
"When
I was young, I had piano lessons, clarinet lessons and violin lessons,"
he said. "My sister had piano, violin and viola (lessons). I was
encouraged to sing in choirs. …
"The point is, no matter how
hard up we were in the Depression, certain things like that — music
lessons — came as a part of life, rather than saying we couldn’t afford
it."
Meijer carried that belief to the community. Declaring that
city dwellers needed to get outdoors to preserve "mental stability," he
donated seed money to develop a network of hiking and cycling trails in
western Michigan.
"Beyond raising a family and working and surviving, that’s where the arts come in, and that’s the
sugar and spice," he said.
Meijer is survived by his wife, Lena, and sons Hank, Doug and Mark. Funeral arrangements are pending.
The death was first reported by The Grand Rapids Press.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.