Philanthropist, Businessman and Retail Heir.
A deeply religious man, Stanley Kresge began his business career with the S.S. Kresge Company in 1923, moving up the corporate ladder to become vice chairman in 1953. He was an officer in the family's vast retailing business and was a trustee of the Kresge Foundation from 1931 until the week before his death. The Kresge Foundation was founded by his father Sebastian Kresge in 1924. When his father retired in 1966, Mr. Kresge became chairman, but he retired himself the following year. The younger Mr. Kresge occasionally made public his disagreements with the company management. He protested strenuously when the company dropped his father's name in 1977; by then the discount K-Mart department and variety stores accounted for the bulk of the company sales and profits.
A devout Methodist, Stanley and his wife also objected on religious grounds to the fact that many K-Mart outlets opened on Sundays and sold beer and wine. Mrs. Kresge startled the 1963 stockholders meeting, presided over by her husband, by opening an earnest discussion from the floor on the morality of selling merchandise on the Christian Sabbath. Prior to his death, the Kresge's donated millions in K-Mart stock to several colleges, libraries and charitable causes. Stanley was known as a deeply religious man of simple tastes and a modest dresser, who inherited from his father a sense of thrift as well as great wealth.
In 1981 he started giving away his shares of K-Mart stock and one week prior to his death, Stanley donated $800,000 worth of K-Mart stock to Duke University Divinity School in North Carolina. By 1985, Mr. Kresge and his wife Dorothy donated over $500-million dollars to various charitable, civic, religious, social, educational, medical and cultural causes.
A deeply religious man, Stanley Kresge began his business career with the S.S. Kresge Company in 1923, moving up the corporate ladder to become vice chairman in 1953. He was an officer in the family's vast retailing business and was a trustee of the Kresge Foundation from 1931 until the week before his death. The Kresge Foundation was founded by his father Sebastian Kresge in 1924. When his father retired in 1966, Mr. Kresge became chairman, but he retired himself the following year. The younger Mr. Kresge occasionally made public his disagreements with the company management. He protested strenuously when the company dropped his father's name in 1977; by then the discount K-Mart department and variety stores accounted for the bulk of the company sales and profits.
A devout Methodist, Stanley and his wife also objected on religious grounds to the fact that many K-Mart outlets opened on Sundays and sold beer and wine. Mrs. Kresge startled the 1963 stockholders meeting, presided over by her husband, by opening an earnest discussion from the floor on the morality of selling merchandise on the Christian Sabbath. Prior to his death, the Kresge's donated millions in K-Mart stock to several colleges, libraries and charitable causes. Stanley was known as a deeply religious man of simple tastes and a modest dresser, who inherited from his father a sense of thrift as well as great wealth.
In 1981 he started giving away his shares of K-Mart stock and one week prior to his death, Stanley donated $800,000 worth of K-Mart stock to Duke University Divinity School in North Carolina. By 1985, Mr. Kresge and his wife Dorothy donated over $500-million dollars to various charitable, civic, religious, social, educational, medical and cultural causes.
Philanthropist, Businessman and Retail Heir.
A deeply religious man, Stanley Kresge began his business career with the S.S. Kresge Company in 1923, moving up the corporate ladder to become vice chairman in 1953. He was an officer in the family's vast retailing business and was a trustee of the Kresge Foundation from 1931 until the week before his death. The Kresge Foundation was founded by his father Sebastian Kresge in 1924. When his father retired in 1966, Mr. Kresge became chairman, but he retired himself the following year. The younger Mr. Kresge occasionally made public his disagreements with the company management. He protested strenuously when the company dropped his father's name in 1977; by then the discount K-Mart department and variety stores accounted for the bulk of the company sales and profits.
A devout Methodist, Stanley and his wife also objected on religious grounds to the fact that many K-Mart outlets opened on Sundays and sold beer and wine. Mrs. Kresge startled the 1963 stockholders meeting, presided over by her husband, by opening an earnest discussion from the floor on the morality of selling merchandise on the Christian Sabbath. Prior to his death, the Kresge's donated millions in K-Mart stock to several colleges, libraries and charitable causes. Stanley was known as a deeply religious man of simple tastes and a modest dresser, who inherited from his father a sense of thrift as well as great wealth.
In 1981 he started giving away his shares of K-Mart stock and one week prior to his death, Stanley donated $800,000 worth of K-Mart stock to Duke University Divinity School in North Carolina. By 1985, Mr. Kresge and his wife Dorothy donated over $500-million dollars to various charitable, civic, religious, social, educational, medical and cultural causes.
A deeply religious man, Stanley Kresge began his business career with the S.S. Kresge Company in 1923, moving up the corporate ladder to become vice chairman in 1953. He was an officer in the family's vast retailing business and was a trustee of the Kresge Foundation from 1931 until the week before his death. The Kresge Foundation was founded by his father Sebastian Kresge in 1924. When his father retired in 1966, Mr. Kresge became chairman, but he retired himself the following year. The younger Mr. Kresge occasionally made public his disagreements with the company management. He protested strenuously when the company dropped his father's name in 1977; by then the discount K-Mart department and variety stores accounted for the bulk of the company sales and profits.
A devout Methodist, Stanley and his wife also objected on religious grounds to the fact that many K-Mart outlets opened on Sundays and sold beer and wine. Mrs. Kresge startled the 1963 stockholders meeting, presided over by her husband, by opening an earnest discussion from the floor on the morality of selling merchandise on the Christian Sabbath. Prior to his death, the Kresge's donated millions in K-Mart stock to several colleges, libraries and charitable causes. Stanley was known as a deeply religious man of simple tastes and a modest dresser, who inherited from his father a sense of thrift as well as great wealth.
In 1981 he started giving away his shares of K-Mart stock and one week prior to his death, Stanley donated $800,000 worth of K-Mart stock to Duke University Divinity School in North Carolina. By 1985, Mr. Kresge and his wife Dorothy donated over $500-million dollars to various charitable, civic, religious, social, educational, medical and cultural causes.
