LAKELAND, Fla. -- Funeral services were held here last week for George W. Jenkins Jr., founder and chairman emeritus of Publix Super Markets here.
Well-known by his industry colleagues as a sharp entrepreneur with an abiding concern for his customers and his employees, "Mr. George," as he was known at Publix, died in his sleep last Monday. He was 88. Despite suffering a stroke in 1989 that affected his speech and confined him to a wheelchair, Jenkins continued to visit stores and talk with employees, something he did as recently as four days before he died. "Despite his stroke, he always kept his spirits and enthusiasm high, often visiting with Publix employees in stores and distribution centers, encouraging them to continue his dream of making shopping a pleasure for everyone," Howard Jenkins, his son and Publix' chairman and chief executive officer, said in a company statement.
"My father enjoyed a long, successful life and made a tremendous difference in the community and the food industry. I'm thankful he was with us to see Publix become more successful than he ever imagined." Publix, which began in 1930 with a single store in Winter Haven, Fla., now operates 541 stores in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, with 1995 sales of $9.4 billion.
George Jenkins won the respect of industry colleagues, including those at Winn-Dixie Stores, Publix' chief competitor. "His passing probably marks the end of an era in our business, especially in Florida," Dan Davis, chairman of Winn-Dixie, Jacksonville, Fla., told SN last week. "He was one of a group of men -- like my dad and uncles -- who gambled and survived in relatively rough times." Jenkins was "a role model for executives on how to run a grocery company," according to Tim Hammonds, president and chief executive officer of the Food Marketing Institute, Washington. "For George, the supermarket was never just a place to make money but a place to build the kind of organization that gives back to the community and creates an atmosphere where employees feel good about what they're doing," he said.
Jenkins was born in Warm Springs, Ga., in 1907 and worked in his father's general store before moving to Tampa, Fla., in 1925 to make his fortune in the Florida real estate boom. He ended up working in and eventually managing a Piggly Wiggly store in Winter Haven, Fla. When that store was sold, Jenkins took the $1,300 he had saved and opened the first Publix Super Market next door. A few years later, he acquired 19 All American stores from Lakeland Grocery Co. and moved the company's headquarters to its current location in Lakeland. Publix was an employee-owned company from its beginning, Mark Hollis, vice chairman of Publix, noted, "because Mr. George knew if you own part of a company that you'll care more for it." Jenkins sold stock in the company for $100 a share in its early years and had five shares left when he approached five employees who were earning $13 a week, according to Hollis. "He knew none of them could afford the price of a share, so he offered to raise their salaries $2 a week if they would use that money to pay for the shares over a 50-week period," he said. He added that Jenkins was willing to try new technologies, "but he didn't like to be the frontiersman who cleared the forest. He preferred letting someone else clear the way and then use what they learned to take things to a new level." Over the years, Publix was among the first companies to offer wide aisles, frozen food cases, open dairy cases, electric-eye doors, air conditioning, fluorescent lighting and paved parking lots. Ken Olson, the retired president of Vons Cos., Arcadia, Calif. -- who was part of a share group with Jenkins for more than 20 years -- said Jenkins was "ahead of the industry in many ways, and he was never afraid to get involved in new trends. George encompassed an entrepreneurial spirit and vision for the industry, but most of all he was a gentleman who cared about his employees and referred to them as co-workers." Fred Meijer, chairman of the executive committee of Meijer Inc., Grand Rapids, Mich., said of Jenkins, "He was a merchant's merchant who felt the thrill and the romance of the retail business and radiated that feeling at all times. And he was always very gracious and always willing to cooperate with anybody and everybody."
According to Harold Toppel, founder of Pueblo International, Pompano Beach, Fla., "Everything that Publix did over the years -- in terms of store operations, distribution, the quality of food and service to customers -- deserves an A-plus because of George Jenkins' management skills and his ability to motivate people." Jenkins was president of Super Market Institute, FMI's predecessor, from 1961 to 1963. "George was an icon in the food industry who reflected the spirit of entrepreneurship as we know it, and he cared a lot about all of his customers," said Byron Allumbaugh, chairman of Ralphs Grocery Co., Compton, Calif., and a former FMI chairman.
Jenkins is survived by his son, Howard; a daughter, Carol Jenkins Barnett, a Publix board member; three other daughters and one other son; plus a brother, retired Publix chairman Charles H. Jenkins; 14 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
