Robert Angelo Hudson (July 27, 1887September 4, 1974) was a grocery industry executive and golf enthusiast based in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. He is remembered for sponsoring the

1947 Ryder Cup The 7th Ryder Cup Matches were held November 1–2, 1947 at Portland Golf Club in Portland, Oregon, marking a resumption of the competition after a full decade. World War II forced cancellations from 1939 to 1945; the last competition was in 193 ...

Early life and legacy

Hudson was born in 1887 in Portland. He began working for a wholesale grocery company at the age of 14, and at age 19 Hudson became the company's sales manager. In 1907 he founded the Hudson-Duncan Co., a wholesale produce packaging enterprise. The firm would later become Hudson House Inc. His great-granddaughter still lives in the Portland area, but has shunned golf in favor of the Portland Thorns and

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional men's soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The Timbers have played their home games at P ...

soccer clubs.

Hudson House

In 1920 Hudson partnered with associates William Evans and

Fred Meyer Fred Meyer is an American chain of hypermarket superstores founded in 1922 in Portland, Oregon, USA, by Fred G. Meyer. The stores are found in the northwest U.S., within the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Alaska. The company merged w ...

to form an insurance and investment firm, Hudson, Evans, and Meyer. Later, in a partnership between Robert Hudson, Fred Meyer, and Meyer's younger brother Henry Meyer, Hudson introduced the popular

self-service Self-service is the practice of serving oneself, usually when making purchases. Aside from Automated Teller Machines, which are not limited to banks, and customer-operated supermarket check-out, labor-saving of which has been described as self- ...

grocery chain

Piggly Wiggly Piggly Wiggly is an American supermarket chain operating in the American Southern and Midwestern regions run by Piggly Wiggly, LLC, an affiliate of C&S Wholesale Grocers. Its first outlet opened in 1916 in Memphis, Tennessee, and is notable f ...

to the Portland area. After Fred Meyer left the company in the late 1920s, Hudson went on to open 30 Piggly Wiggly stores in Oregon. Hudson formed the wholesale food processing company, Hudson House Inc., as a supplier for Piggly Wiggly stores in Oregon. After Henry Meyer retired from the firm in 1966, Hudson renamed his 30 Piggly Wiggly stores the 3 Boys Market chain. Hudson House became insolvent in the early 1970s, forcing Hudson to sell his processing plants, warehouses, and 3 Boys Markets.

Golf activities

In 1944 Hudson established the Portland Open golf tournament with a $10,000 purse. Hudson played in the tournament, but the prize went to

Sam Snead Samuel Jackson Snead (pronounced English_phonology">sni:d.html" ;"title="English_phonology.html" ;"title="nowiki/>English phonology">sni:d">English_phonology.html" ;"title="nowiki/>English phonology">sni:d May 27, 1912 – May 23, 2002) was an ...

. Hudson again sponsored the tournament in 1945, and the prize went to

Ben Hogan William Ben Hogan (August 13, 1912 – July 25, 1997) was an American professional golfer who is generally considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of the game. He is notable for his profound influence on golf swing theory and ...

. Hudson is best known for funding the 1947 Ryder Cup, a tournament that had not been played for ten years. Hudson underwrote both the British and American teams, and for his efforts he was chosen Man of the Year in 1947 by the Golf Writers Association of America. The Hudson Cup was established in 1949 by the Pacific Northwest section of the

PGA of America The Professional Golfers' Association of America (PGA of America) is an American organization of golf professionals that was founded in 1916. Consisting of nearly 29,000 men and women members, the PGA of America's undertaking is to establish ...

in Hudson's honor. In 1951 Hudson became president of the PGA advisory committee. He is the namesake of the Hudson Trophy at the South Herts Golf Club near

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. He was posthumously inducted into the Pacific Northwest Golf Hall of Fame in 1978, and in 1984 he was honored by the

Oregon Sports Hall of Fame The Oregon Sports Hall of Fame honors Oregon athletes, teams, coaches, and others who have made a significant contribution to sports in Oregon. The first class was inducted in 1980, with new inductees added in the fall. Operated by the Oregon Sports ...

References

External links

Paul Jackson Wholesale Co. history

Pacific Northwest Section PGAHall of Fame

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hudson, Robert A. 1887 births 1974 deaths American businesspeople in retailing American grocers American food company founders Businesspeople from Portland, Oregon American male golfers 20th-century American businesspeople