Robert Sainsbury

Sir Robert James Sainsbury (24 October 1906 – 2 April 2000), was the son of John Benjamin Sainsbury (the eldest son of Sainsbury's supermarkets founder John James Sainsbury), and along with his wife Lisa began the collection of modern and tribal art housed at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts in Norwich.

Robert Sainsbury was educated at Haileybury College and Pembroke College, Cambridge, before qualifying as an accountant.

Sainsbury married Lisa Ingeborg (née Van den Bergh; 3 March 1912 – 6 February 2014) daughter of Professor Simon van den Bergh and Sonia Pokrojski. They had four children Elizabeth (married name Clark; 19 July 1938 – 14 August 1977), Celia (b.1945, married name Blakey) and Annabel (b.1948, married Peter Kanabus had two children: Adrian Kanabus b. 1975, Jason Kanabus b. 1976, d. Jun 2006) David (b. 24 October 1940), later David Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Turville.

In 1930, he joined the family grocery business founded by his grandfather, and became joint president almost 40 years later.

Robert Sainsbury was an advocate of better conditions for the retail chain's employees. Pensions and sickness benefits for all staff came in 1935; overtime payments were introduced in 1941; and, from 1962, the five-day week was standard.

Eight years after he joined the family firm, his father, John Benjamin Sainsbury, retired due to ill-health, and Robert Sainsbury and his elder brother Alan Sainsbury became joint general managers. While Alan Sainsbury took charge of trading matters, Robert Sainsbury specialised in administration, finance and personnel. It was a happy partnership, lasting more than 30 years.

The Second World War broke out a year after Robert Sainsbury's promotion, and there were rationed supplies at the 250 Sainsbury's shops.

Robert Sainsbury was a strong supporter of the Beveridge Report, which cradled the welfare state into being. By the end of the war, Robert Sainsbury had cut the long hours which under-18s had necessarily put in - with men conscripted and women on war work.

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