Alex Grass
| Alex Grass | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Alexander Grass August 3, 1927 Scranton, Pennsylvania |
| Died | August 27, 2009 (aged 82) Harrisburg, Pennsylvania |
| Cause of death | Lung Cancer |
| Spouse(s) | Lois Lehrman |
Alexander Grass (August 3, 1927 - August 27, 2009) was an American businessman and lawyer who founded Rite Aid, one of the United States' largest drugstore chains.
Grass was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to Jewish parents, Louis and Rose Grass. His father, a businessman whom Grass described in 2002 as "relatively successful", died during the Great Depression when Grass was 9 years old, leaving the family with little income. Grass' family relocated from Scranton to Miami Beach, Florida in 1936 after his father's death. Grass worked a number of small jobs while living in Florida. He eventually obtained a law degree from the University of Florida Law School in 1949 using the G.I. Bill.
He met his wife, Lois Lehrman, while in Florida and the couple married six months later.
Grass moved back to Pennsylvania to pursue a legal career in tax law with the Internal Revenue Service 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 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 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. More importantly, in the early 1960s the United States Supreme Court citing the Robinson–Patman Act that manufacturers could not dictate minimum prices for retailers.
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Wikipedia