Charles Genuardi, 102, eldest of the five supermarket-chain brothers
Charles Genuardi, 102, eldest of five brothers who founded in 1954 what became a chain of suburban supermarkets, died of kidney failure Friday, Sept. 16, at his home in Meadowood, a retirement community in Worcester Township.
(This article was orginally published Sept. 20, 2011.)
Charles Genuardi, 102, eldest of five brothers who founded in 1954 what became a chain of suburban supermarkets, died of kidney failure Friday, Sept. 16, at his home in Meadowood, a retirement community in Worcester Township.
After buying a small New Jersey grocery chain in 1997, Genuardi's Family Markets Inc. operated 33 stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. The firm, noted for its customer service, was sold in 2001 to Safeway Inc.
Born in Norristown, Mr. Genuardi left elementary school to help support the family, but graduated from a business school there in the 1930s, a son, Charles A., said.
His son said the grocery firm traced its origins to 1920, when his grandfather, Gaspare, "started to sell produce door-to-door."
The online history for the firm states that "Gaspare Genuardi and his wife, Josephine, started growing vegetables on their small farm in Norristown.
"Gaspare began selling his homegrown produce to his neighbors out of the back of his horse-drawn wagon. . . . Gaspare eventually hired several drivers to deliver his produce, first by horse and wagon and later by Model T truck."
The first Genuardi grocery, Charles A. Genuardi said, was "a corner store on Sandy Street, near High," in the late 1930s.
In the 1940s, the family opened "a little superette," a small supermarket, at 1930 Main St., Jeffersonville.
Mr. Genuardi and his brothers turned over the supermarket chain, founded in 1954, to the next generation of Genuardis in 1990, led by Charles A., the firm's president.
In 2001, the elder Charles Genuardi and his wife, Anne, set up the Charles and Anne S. Genuardi Family Foundation to support Catholic education and humanitarian efforts.
He was a member of the Knights of Columbus, the Sons of Italy, the Lions Club, and the Serra Club of Norristown, which promotes religious vocations.
Besides his son, Mr. Genuardi is survived by another son, the Rev. Gasper; daughters Josephine McCabe, Antoinette Deever, and Paula Molnar; four brothers; two sisters; 15 grandchildren; and 33 great-grandchildren. His wife died in 2005.
A viewing was set from 4 to 7:50 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 20, at St. Francis of Assisi Church, 600 Hamilton St., Norristown, before an 8 p.m. Funeral Mass there celebrated by his son, pastor of SS. Cosmas and Damian Church, Conshohocken. Burial is to be private.
Donations may be sent to the Charles and Anne S. Genuardi Family Foundation in care of Bruce Bickel, PNC Private Foundation Management, 10th Floor, 2 PNC Plaza, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15222.