Joseph Albert Albertson (October 17, 1906 – January 20, 1993) was an American businessman, the founder of the Albertsons chain of grocery stores.

Early life

Born in

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

Oklahoma Territory The Territory of Oklahoma was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 2, 1890, until November 16, 1907, when it was joined with the Indian Territory under a new constitution and admitted to the Union as th ...

, Albertson was one of four sons born to Rhoda and Earl Albertson. In 1909, before he was three, the family moved west to

Caldwell Caldwell may refer to: People * Caldwell (surname) * Caldwell (given name) * Caldwell First Nation, a federally recognized Indian band in southern Ontario, Canada Places Great Britain * Caldwell, Derbyshire, a hamlet * Caldwell, East ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

. After graduation from Caldwell High School in 1925, Albertson studied business for two years at the

College of Idaho The College of Idaho (C of I) is a private liberal arts college in Caldwell, Idaho. Founded in 1891, it is the state's oldest private liberal arts college and has an enrollment of over 1,000 students. The college's alumni include eight Rhode ...

in Caldwell.

Career

While in college in 1927, he began his career in the grocery industry as a clerk at a local

Safeway Safeway is an American supermarket chain founded by Marion Barton Skaggs in April 1915 in American Falls, Idaho. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and features a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, d ...

grocery store. On the final day of 1929, he married his college classmate Kathryn McCurry, of Boise, Idaho. They had one daughter, Barbara Jean Albertson Newman (1933–2012). Albertson quickly moved through the ranks with Safeway, until he was supervising more than a dozen stores. But he was not satisfied and wanted to start his own store—one that he could build to his own specifications and manage his own way. With $5,000 of the money he and Kathryn had saved, and with $7,500 borrowed from his wife's aunt, Albertson formed a partnership with L.S. Skaggs, a former Safeway division manager, and Tom Cuthbert, Skaggs' accountant. At the age of thirty-two, Albertson opened his first store in 1939 on three principles: quality, good value, and excellent service. Albertson is credited as being one of the pioneers of the complete one-stop, self-service supermarket concept. The first store was located at Sixteenth and State Streets in Boise, and he opened his second and third Albertsons stores in

Nampa The Namibia Press Agency (NAMPA) is the national news agency of the Namibia, Republic of Namibia. It was founded in 1987 under the name Namibia Press Association as a SWAPO partisan press agency, and resuscitated after Namibian War of Independence ...

and Caldwell in 1940. During the years of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, when food was being rationed, he filled the empty shelves with health and beauty products, general household goods, and other non-food items. Albertson's reputation for generosity and community involvement grew during those war years. His stores promoted

war bonds War bonds (sometimes referred to as Victory bonds, particularly in propaganda) are debt securities issued by a government to finance military operations and other expenditure in times of war without raising taxes to an unpopular level. They are a ...

and sponsored scrap drives that collected

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

, fats, and

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distributed ...

for

recycling Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...

. During the 1950s and 1960s, Albertson's expanded and became a familiar name to shoppers throughout the western United States. It grew to be a chain of over six hundred stores. At age 70, he stepped down as chairman of the board in 1976. Albertson's generosity continued throughout the years. The

received many donations from Joe and Kathryn. It was named Albertson College of Idaho for sixteen years from 1991 to 2007. Perhaps the most obvious gift to the citizens of Idaho is the Kathryn Albertson Park in Boise, with its winding walkways, wildflowers, trees and ponds.

J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation

In 1966, Joe and Kathryn established th
J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation
as a way to administer their own charitable giving. They began focusing their giving primarily on education, which was important to Joe and Kathryn because neither was able to finish college 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 ...

. Since then, the foundation has given more than $750 million to Idaho's communities. The foundation continues to give in areas where Joe and Kathryn lived or worked in Idaho. They are committed to accelerating opportunities in Idaho and focus on initiative work that is related to learning, leadership, and community.

References

External links

The College of Idaho
- a brief history from its official website
J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Albertson, Joe 1906 births 1993 deaths American businesspeople in retailing People from Boise, Idaho College of Idaho alumni Idaho Republicans People from Caldwell, Idaho People from Yukon, Oklahoma 20th-century American businesspeople American grocers Philanthropists from Idaho 20th-century American philanthropists Burials in Idaho