Alexander Grass (August 3, 1927 – August 27, 2009) was an American businessman and lawyer who founded
Rite Aid
Rite Aid Corporation is an American drugstore chain based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1962 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, by Alex Grass under the name Thrift D Discount Center. The company ranked No. 148 in the Fortune 500 lis ...
,
one of the United States' largest
drugstore
A pharmacy (also called "drugstore" in American English or "community pharmacy" or "chemist" in Commonwealth English, or rarely, apothecary) is a retail shop which provides pharmaceutical drugs, among other products. At the pharmacy, a pharmacis ...
chains.
[
]
Early life
Grass was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U ...
, to Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
parents, Louis and Rose Grass. His father, a businessman whom Grass described in 2002 as "relatively successful", died during the Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
when Grass was 9 years old, leaving the family with little income.[ Grass' family relocated from Scranton to ]Miami Beach, Florida
Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and artificial island, man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the ...
in 1936 after his father's death.[ ] Grass worked a number of small jobs while living in Florida. He eventually obtained a law degree
A law degree is an academic degree conferred for studies in law. Such degrees are generally preparation for legal careers. But while their curricula may be reviewed by legal authority, they do not confer a license themselves. A legal license is gra ...
from the University of Florida Law School
The University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law (UF Law) is the law school of the University of Florida located in Gainesville, Florida. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest operating public law school in Florida, and second oldest overall ...
in 1949 using the G.I. Bill
The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...
.[
He met his wife, Lois Lehrman, while in Florida and the couple married six months later.]
Rite Aid
Grass moved back to Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
to pursue a legal career in tax law
Tax law or revenue law is an area of legal study in which public or sanctioned authorities, such as federal, state and municipal governments (as in the case of the US) use a body of rules and procedures (laws) to assess and collect taxes in a ...
with the Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...
and other government agencies.[ He took a position with the Pennsylvania state Department of Revenue.][
Grass became a businessman during the early 1950s partially due to his marriage into his wife's ]Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in Pe ...
based Lehrman family.[ He began working for his father-in-law's, Lehrman & Sons, wholesale grocery distribution company along with his brother-in-law ]Lewis Lehrman
Lewis E. "Lew" Lehrman (born August 15, 1938, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) is an American investment banker, businessman, Republican Party (United States), Republican politician, economist, and historian who supports the ongoing study of America ...
in 1951.[
Grass saw several opportunities for retail opportunities in the 1960s. While working for the distribution company, Grass noticed that there seemed to be a lack of competitively priced health and beauty stores in ]Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
.[ More importantly, in the early 1960s the ]United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
citing the Robinson–Patman Act
The Robinson–Patman Act (RPA) of 1936 (or Anti-Price Discrimination Act, Pub. L. No. 74-692, 49 Stat. 1526 (codified at )) is a United States federal law that prohibits anticompetitive practices by producers, specifically price discrimination. ...
that manufacturers could not dictate minimum prices
A price is the (usually not negative) quantity of payment or compensation given by one party to another in return for goods or services. In some situations, the price of production has a different name. If the product is a "good" in the c ...
for retailers.[
Grass suddenly saw an opportunity in the retail sector, thanks to the Supreme Court ruling and lack of competing drugstores. He decided to open a store in downtown Scranton, which he called the Thrif D Discount Center, in 1962.][ The store would be the first of the chain which would become Rite Aid. The first store in Scranton, which was only wide and deep, became an immediate success in the city.][ He quickly expanded the store, opening other locations in ]Wilkes-Barre
Wilkes-Barre ( or ) is a city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Luzerne County. Located at the center of the Wyoming Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania, it had a population of 44,328 in the 2020 census. It is the secon ...
, Hazleton Hazleton may refer to:
Places
* Hazleton, British Columbia, Canada
* Hazleton, Gloucestershire, a village in Gloucestershire, England
** Hazleton long barrows, Neolithic burial mounds at Hazleton, Gloucestershire, England
** Hazleton Abbey, a me ...
and Lancaster, as well as a second location in Scranton.[
By 1968, the company, which had more than 50 stores at the time, had changed its name to Rite Aid.][ Rite Aid's ]initial public offering
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
at $25 a share on the New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...
earned the Grass family $8.75 million.[ Rite Aid purchased a rival chain, the Daw Drug Company, which was based in ]Rochester, New York
Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...
, in 1969, which doubled the company's size and gave Rite Aid a pharmacy
Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links heal ...
business for the first time.[
By the middle of the 1990s, Grass had grown Rite Aid drugstores into an important regional chain.][ Grass retired as the company's chairman and chief executive in March 1995.][ That year, Rite Aid had the most stores of any drugstore in the country and was the nation's number two drugstore in terms of ]revenue
In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services related to the primary operations of the business.
Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some companies receive reven ...
.[
Grass' son, Martin Grass, took over the company from his father in 1995.][ Rite Aid declined as a chain and a brand as Martin Grass sought to expand the company.][ Martin Grass was fired by the company in 1999, after he was implicated in an $1.6 billion ]accounting scandal
Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the measurement, processing, and communication of financial and non financial information about economic entities such as businesses and corporations. Accounting, which has been called the "language ...
that nearly destroyed Rite Aid, just four years after his father had retired.[ Martin Grass was convicted of overstating Rite Aid's ]earning
Earning can refer to:
* Labour (economics)
*Earnings of a company
*Merit
Merit may refer to:
Religion
* Merit (Christianity)
* Merit (Buddhism)
* Punya (Hinduism)
* Imputed righteousness in Reformed Christianity
Companies and brands
* Merit ...
s during the 1990s and sentenced to eight years in federal prison
A federal prison is operated under the jurisdiction of a federal government as opposed to a state or provincial body. Federal prisons are used for convicts who violated federal law (U.S., Mexico), inmates considered dangerous (Brazil), or those s ...
.[ He is still incarcerated as of 2009.][ Other Rite Aid executives were also convicted in the scandal.][
While still at Rite Aid, former Scranton Mayor James B. McNulty approached Grass about developing an eyesore and vacant lot at the corner of North Washington Avenue and Spruce Street at Courthouse Square in downtown Scranton, just blocks from the original "Thrif D Discount Center."][ Grass accepted McNulty's offer to develop the long vacant site.][ The four-story Rite Aid ]office building
An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific dut ...
, with a Rite Aid store on the first floor was constructed at the site.[ A plaque on the side of the Rite Aid Building commemorates Grass and his establishment of Rite Aid in Scranton.][
]
Later life
Alex Grass became involved in philanthropy and other business interests following his departure from Rite Aid. For numerous years he headed the board of governors
A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organi ...
of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...
that bestowed him with the National Scopus Award. The Grass Center for Drug Design and Synthesis of Novel Therapeutics was founded at the university in 1993.
He served as the longtime director of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, ce ...
.[
In 1999, Grass and his son, Roger Grass, purchased the ]Fleer
The Fleer Corporation, founded by Frank H. Fleer in 1885, was the first company to successfully manufacture bubble gum; it remained a family-owned enterprise until 1989.
Fleer originally developed a bubble gum formulation called '' Blibber-Blu ...
/SkyBox sports trading card company. The company closed and was sold in 2005.[
Grass divorced his first wife, Lois Lehrman.][ His second wife, Louise, died in 2007.][ Grass had four children during his lifetime.][
Grass donated $1.5 million to establish the Alex Grass School of Business Leadership at ]Harrisburg Area Community College
, mottoeng = Knowledge Restores Truth
, established = 1964, accredited in 1967
, type = Public, Community College
, president = John J. "Ski" Sygielski, Ed.D.
, city = Harrisburg
, state = PA
, country = USA
, undergrad = 19,000
, admini ...
.[ The PinnacleHealth's Harrisburg Hospital named a $14.5 million building after Grass, who was one of its benefactors.][
Grass donated $1.5 million to the University of Florida to establish chair for its Center for ]Jewish Studies
Jewish studies (or Judaic studies; he, מדעי היהדות, madey ha-yahadut, sciences of Judaism) is an academic discipline centered on the study of Jews and Judaism. Jewish studies is interdisciplinary and combines aspects of history (esp ...
and construct a new law school
A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction.
Law degrees Argentina
In Argentina, ...
building.[
]
Death
Alex Grass died at his home in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in Pe ...
, on August 27, 2009, after a ten-year-long battle with lung cancer.[
Grass' funeral was held at Temple Ohev Sholom in Harrisburg. He was buried in Mount Moriah Cemetery in ]Lower Paxton Township, Pennsylvania
Lower Paxton Township is a township of the second class in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 53,501 at the 2020 census. It is the most populous municipality in Dauphin County, exceeding that of Harrisburg (population ...
.
References
External links
Alexander Grass Death Notice at Pennlive.com
Alex Grass dies at 82
at LA Times.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grass, Alex
Rite Aid
1927 births
2009 deaths
20th-century American businesspeople
Pennsylvania lawyers
Businesspeople from Scranton, Pennsylvania
People from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
University of Florida alumni
Jewish American philanthropists
Deaths from lung cancer in Pennsylvania
American businesspeople convicted of crimes
20th-century American philanthropists
Burials in Pennsylvania
20th-century American lawyers
20th-century American Jews
21st-century American Jews