Staff ReportVERO BEACH — Grocery store magnate, philanthropist and part-time Vero Beach resident Lewis Golub died on Oct. 18 after battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. He was 78.Golub’s family founded the Price Chopper supermarket chain and it was under his guidance that it went from 50 stores in the 1970s to its current number of 120 in six northeastern states with sales of more than $2 billion. Golub retired from the business in 2000 and spent his winters in Vero Beach where he was on the board of directors for the Riverside Theater. Lewis’ father, Ben and his brother Bill, founded the business in 1932 as Central Market. They changed the name to Price Chopper in 1973 and in that decade, their sons, Lewis and Neil, took over leadership and oversaw the company’s next growth phase.
“Lew was a very bright, analytical guy,” Neil Golub, president and CEO of Price Chopper, told the Albany Times-Union. “He was the brains behind establishing our financial strategy.”
Neil credited Lewis with starting the employee profit-sharing program in which today 52 percent of Price Chopper stock is owned by its employees.
Lewis was diagnosed with ALS in June of 2008 and his family took up the fight for a cure, pledging $250,000 to the St. Peter’s (N.Y.) ALS Regional Center, which was renamed the Lewis Golub MDA ALS Clinic in his honor, the Times-Union reported.
Survivors include his wife of 19 years, Colleen, and their children, Jerry, David, Christopher, Shari and Jennifer.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to St. Peter’s Lewis Golub MDA/ALS Clinic, 19 Warehouse Row, Albany, N.Y. 12205. Condolences may be sent online at www.levinememorialchapel.com.