Kathryn McCurry Albertson (August 27, 1908 – April 30, 2002) was the wife of the founder of the

Albertsons Albertsons Companies, Inc. is an American grocery company founded and headquartered in Boise, Idaho. With 2,253 stores as of the third quarter of fiscal year 2020 and 270,000 employees as of fiscal year 2019, the company is the second-large ...

chain of grocery stores and a notable

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

Biography

Born Kathryn McCurry in

Boise, Idaho Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown are ...

on August 27, 1908, she was the daughter of Neunan and Ida Mae McCurry. She attended school in the Boise school system and after graduation from

Boise High School Boise High School is a public secondary school in Boise, Idaho, one of five traditional high schools within the city limits, four of which are in the Boise School District. A three-year comprehensive high school, Boise High is located on the outly ...

, she enrolled 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 ...

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 ...

, where, in chemistry class, she met Joe Albertson. They married on New Years Day in 1930. Kathryn Albertson also founded a local sorority during her time in the College of Idaho called Sigma Epsilon. It was founded on January 5, 1923. Together, they started the grocery store chain that bears their name (

). Kathryn was there for Joe and for their daughter, Barbara, as the store they created grew to be one of the largest supermarket chains in America. When Joe died in 1993, Kathryn remained active on the Albertson Corporation Board of Directors for several more years. In 1998, the company honored her by designating her Albertson's first Director Emeritus, an honorary lifetime position on the board of directors.

J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation

Kathryn and Joe believed strongly that “once you make it, you need to give back.” Together, they began to give to a number of charitable causes, often to help students who wanted to further their education. In 1966, they created the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation to help administer their personal giving.
-> A walking park in Boise along the

Boise River The Boise River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. , accessed May 3, 2011 tributary of the Snake River in the Northwestern United States. It drains a rugged portion of the Sawtooth Range in sou ...

bears her name, a gift to the city from her husband in 1989.

Death

Kathryn died at age 93 on April 30, 2002, and is interred next to her husband at Morris Hill Cemetery in Boise.

References

External links

J.A. & Kathryn Albertson FoundationCity of Boise: Kathryn Albertson ParkThe College of Idaho
- official website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Albertson, Kathryn 1908 births 2002 deaths People from Boise, Idaho College of Idaho alumni Philanthropists from Idaho American women philanthropists 20th-century American philanthropists 20th-century women philanthropists