Hendrik G. "Hank" Meijer (born 1952) is an American

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...

businessman, co-chairman and CEO of the US supermarket chain

Meijer Meijer Inc. (, ; stylized as meijer) is an American supercenter chain that primarily operates throughout the Midwest. Its corporate headquarters are in Walker, Michigan, which is a part of the Grand Rapids metropolitan area. Founded in 1934 as ...

Early life

Hank Meijer is the son of Lena Rader and

Frederik Meijer Frederik Gerhard Hendrik Meijer (December 7, 1919 – November 25, 2011) was an American billionaire businessman who was the chairman of the Meijer hypermarket chain, headquartered near his former hometown in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Early life ...

, and grandson of

Hendrik Meijer Hendrik Meijer (December 28, 1883 – May 31, 1964) was a Dutch-American businessman who founded the supercenter chain Meijer. Early life Meijer was born on December 28, 1883, in Hengelo, Netherlands, where his father worked under harsh cond ...

, who founded the US supermarket chain

in 1934. He was educated at Creston High School. In 1973, he graduated from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

with a degree in literature.

Career

From 1973 to 1979, Meijer was a journalist. In 1979, he joined Meijer, rising to co-chairman and CEO. According to

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

, Hank and Doug Meijer have a joint net worth of $7.8 billion, as of June 2015.

Personal life

He has three children from his first marriage, and is now married to

Liesel Litzenburger Liesel Litzenburger is a writer in Michigan. Her first novel, "The Widower," was published in August 2006. "Now You Love Me", a collection of short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and ...

, a writer and novelist. He lives in

Grand Rapids Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...

, Michigan. He was a close friend of President and Mrs.

Gerald R. Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...

, and is vice-chairman and a trustee of the

Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation Gerald is a male Germanic given name meaning "rule of the spear" from the prefix ''ger-'' ("spear") and suffix ''-wald'' ("rule"). Variants include the English given name Jerrold, the feminine nickname Jeri and the Welsh language Gerallt and Iris ...

. In 2015, his daughter's British ex-husband was jailed for 12 years for attempting to blackmail the family. His son,

Peter Meijer Peter James Meijer (, ; born January 10, 1988) is an American politician and business analyst who served as the U.S. representative for from 2021 to 2023. He is a member of the Republican Party. Meijer is a member of the Meijer family, the fou ...

, is the current Republican Party congressman for

Michigan's 3rd congressional district Michigan's 3rd congressional district is a U.S. congressional district in West Michigan. From 2003 to 2013, it consisted of the counties of Barry and Ionia, as well as all except the northwestern portion of Kent, including the city of Grand Ra ...

Works

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Meijer, Hank 1952 births Living people American retail chief executives American billionaires Businesspeople from Grand Rapids, Michigan

Hank Hank is a male given name. It may have been inspired by the Dutch name Henk,The Origins of 10 Nicknam ...

University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni American chief executives of food industry companies