Two days after his 73rd birthday on April 25, Richard E. Redner, chairman of Redner’s Markets, died. His passing leaves a tremendous void for his family, the company’s more than 5,500 associates and the entire grocery industry.
Dick Redner was one of the first retailers I met when I moved to the Mid-Atlantic in 1978 to acquire Food World and Food Trade News. My first impression wasn’t a particularly lasting one – I found him to be very quiet with an almost aloof manner.
Of course, little did I know then that his father Earl “The Chief,” the founder of Redner’s Markets, was a dynamo who possessed the retailing skill and charisma to capture almost anybody’s attention. Despite working for a large chain (Grand Union) for his entire career, “The Chief” morphed quickly into an entrepreneur deluxe using his industry experience and street smarts to buy two small floundering IGA supermarkets in the Reading area in 1970 with his wife Mary, who was also an instrumental part of Redner’s success.
While “The Chief” was clearly the face behind the company, which over the next decade began to acquire other grocery stores and build new supermarkets, too, Dick and his younger brother Gary were quickly learning at the feet of a master. And the master’s principles included working hard and treating people fairly. Those were the foundational tenets that inspired Redner’s to form an employee-owned stock program, and today it remains one of the largest ESOPs in the grocery industry.
By the mid-1980s Dick and Gary, who was killed in 2008, were running more of the show and when “The Chief” retired in 1990, Dick Redner was named president and CEO.
A few years earlier, Redner’s opened the first of what would be a string of successful warehouse stores that proved to be a tremendous growth vehicle as it geographically expanded into the Philadelphia area as well as Maryland and later Delaware.
From 1990 until the end of the decade, under Dick Redner’s leadership, the company grew impressively from nine stores to more than 30, utilizing its high-volume discount format to quickly gain market share in many new operating areas. Today, Redner’s operates 44 supermarkets and 24 Quick Shoppe convenience stores and the company’s annual revenue exceeds $1 billion.
Although I’d see Dick a few times each year at the company’s annual charity golf outing and other industry events, it wasn’t until he was named chief executive that I really grasped the unassuming genius of the man who would lead the company until he was elevated to chairman in 2017, paving the way for a third generation of Redner day-to-day leadership with his son, Ryan and nephew Gary Michael.
By nature, Dick Redner was a very private person. But those who knew him recognized the mental toughness and grit the man possessed. He was passionate about the business and the company’s associates and he adored his family. In turn, he was greatly admired by the company’s employees, many of whom are shareholders.
“This business has been in my father’s blood for over 50 years. Second only to his family, this company was his greatest sense of pride and love,” said Ryan Redner. “My father was my idol and will be deeply missed by so many. The amount of outreach I have received has been humbling. His fingerprints are everywhere around this company and this community, and we will continue to move forward with the same drive and determination to carry his vision forward.”
This is a difficult period for the Redner family – his wife of 52 years, Elaine; children Ryan and Stacy Hopp (whose husband, Jason serves as Redner’s general counsel); his sister Chere; and six grandchildren.
I’ll also miss Dick. As we got to know and trust each other more over the past 35 years, I, too, admired his steely passion and candor. He was an honest and blunt man who always maintained an intellectual curiosity about the business and how he could improve the company.
He cared deeply about the important things. And those who knew him should also care deeply about his passing.