South Jersey supermarket owner Steve Ravitz led a ‘life of giving’ before coronavirus

They came to the impromptu memorial across the parking lot wearing masks and carrying flowers. Cashiers, customers, friends, and former employees, all telling different versions of the same story.

Steve Ravitz was more than a supermarket owner to these pilgrims. He was a pillar of the South Jersey community. More than 30 years ago he was quoted in a newspaper article as saying that “throughout life, we’re called upon to make a difference.” That’s precisely what everyone has been talking about since Mr. Ravitz died Tuesday night at Jefferson Hospital after contracting the coronavirus. He was 73.

“He was my mentor,” said 20-year-old Evan Mufalli, a former employee. “Live a life of giving. That’s what he was all about. If there was a way to help, he’d help. He just lived a life of giving. He gave happiness, too.”

Mr. Ravitz grew up in Oxford Circle and graduated from Northeast High in 1964. He helped his father, Stanley, transform the family’s corner stores into a cluster of six supermarkets in South Jersey. The seminal move, his son, Jason, said, was joining the ShopRite network in 1984.

“If my father did not have the [guts] to convince my grandfather that this was the right move for the company, there is no way we would be in business today,” Jason Ravitz said. “We would not have the buying power or the [corporate] support. We would never have been able to compete.”

Steve Ravitz served on the board of directors at Wakefern, the corporate co-op of Shoprite, for 27 years. As his company grew, so did Mr. Ravitz’s ability to help the less fortunate. Among those he helped were refugees from war-torn Kosovo. “We sent food there. I don’t even know why,” his son said, laughing. “We had no connection, no family there.”

The Ravitz Family Foundation, which started in 1994, has donated more than $5 million to causes in South Jersey over the years.

Mr. Ravitz lost his father to heart arrhythmia during a workers’ strike in 2001. That strike led Mr. Ravitz to make improvements for his workforce such as better pay, training, and career development. It made him a better boss.

His connections with various vendors in the supermarket business were also a gateway to meeting professional athletes. Former Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay stopped by for what was supposed to be a quiet meet-and-greet with Mr. Ravitz’s employees arranged by Proctor & Gamble. It was a routine visit until Halladay confessed that he had always wanted to work a cash register, so Mr. Ravitz put him behind one for an hour.

“Doc was so awesome to our people,” Jason Ravitz said.

Steve Ravitz went to Jefferson Hospital on March 26 and died two weeks later.

Mr. Ravitz served on the foundation boards of both Cooper and Jefferson Hospitals. But as philanthropic as he could be, Mr. Ravitz had quite a playful side. We’ll get to the tattoos in a minute.

Mr. Ravitz liked the ponies, and he liked craps even more. He saw American Pharoah win the Triple Crown at Belmont, and was in the same Las Vegas bar as basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski when the Flyers and Penguins played that five-overtime game in the 2000 playoffs. Mr. Ravitz loved his five kids and eight grandkids.

“He was an amazing man,” said Michelle Kelleher, a cashier at the Cherry Hill location on Evesham Road.

After two years at St. Joseph’s University, Mr. Ravitz joined the U.S. Army and served from 1966 until 1970. He was stationed at Fort Dix, but never was sent to combat. Thank God, his son said: He never could have killed anyone.

Mr. Ravitz had a battle with depression, which led him to start a task force for suicide prevention when there was a spike in the Cherry Hill area in the 2000s.

“He would go to the high schools and the middle schools and speak to the kids,” Jason Ravitz said. “He would say to them, ‘Look at me. You’re going to be OK. Here’s what you need to do to battle through, I’m here to help. We’re all human.' ”

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Kevin Hickey recalled how Mr. Ravitz helped Catholic Charities raise $75,000 in 2012. “It all went to direct assistance for poor people in Camden County,” said Hickey, the executive director of the Camden branch.

Mr. Ravitz, who retired in 2019, lived in Rittenhouse Square and was a regular at Del Frisco’s steakhouse, where he donated money to many of the waitstaff just before they were furloughed because of the coronavirus.

Services will be private. The family is considering a public memorial later when social-distancing guidelines to stem the pandemic have been lifted.

At that makeshift memorial in Cherry Hill, just off the intersection of Evesham and Springdale Roads, someone left a sign with Steve Ravitz’s picture:

“RIP Steve," it said. "We will beat this for you!”

One more thing about Mr. Ravitz. Don’t tell the rabbi, but he got himself a couple of tattoos, which are taboo in the Jewish faith.

The mortician “will just have to work harder to get them off,” he cracked to his son. “I’ll be dead. That’s you guys’ problem.”

Jason Ravitz said his father’s final tattoo was on his forearm. It read, “No regrets.”

“That was him,” Jason Ravitz said. “He wanted to get buried with that.”