Joseph Albert Albertson (October 17, 1906 – January 20, 1993) was an American entrepreneur and founder of the

Albertsons Albertsons Companies, Inc. is an American grocery company founded and headquartered in Boise, Idaho. With 2,253 stores as of the third quarter of fiscal year 2020 and 270,000 employees as of fiscal year 2019, the company is the second-large ...

grocery store chain, one of the largest food and drug retailers in the United States.

Early life

Born in

Yukon Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s we ...

Oklahoma Territory The Territory of Oklahoma was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 2, 1890, until November 16, 1907, when it was joined with the Indian Territory under a new constitution and admitted to the Union as ...

, Albertson was one of four sons born to Rhoda and Earl Albertson. In 1909, the family moved west to Caldwell,

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

. After having graduated from Caldwell High School in 1925, Albertson studied business for two years at the

College of Idaho The College of Idaho (C of I) is a private liberal arts college in Caldwell, Idaho. Founded in 1891 by Rev. William Judson Boone as a Presbyterian college, it is the state's oldest private liberal arts college and has an enrollment of over ...

in Caldwell.

Career

While in college in 1927, he worked as a clerk at a local

Safeway Safeway, Inc. is an American supermarket chain. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, delicatessen, floral and pharmacy, as well as Starbucks coffee shops, and veh ...

grocery store. On December 31, 1929, he married his college classmate Kathryn McCurry of

Boise, Idaho Boise ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Idaho, most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, there were 235,685 people residing in the city. Loca ...

. They had one daughter, Barbara Jean Albertson Newman (1933–2012). By 1939, Albertson was supervising more than a dozen stores. Wanting to start his own store, Albertson used $5,000 of his own money and $7,500 borrowed from his wife's aunt to open his first Albertsons grocery store in partnership with L.S. Skaggs, a former Safeway division manager, and Tom Cuthbert, Skaggs's accountant. The store, at Sixteenth and State Streets in Boise, had an automated donut machine and one of the first magazine racks in the USA.

Albertson opened his second and third Albertsons stores in Nampa and Caldwell in 1940. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, when food was being rationed, he filled empty shelves with health and beauty products, general household goods, and other non-food items. His stores promoted

war bonds War bonds (sometimes referred to as victory bonds, particularly in propaganda) are debt securities issued by a government to finance military operations and other expenditure in times of war without raising taxes to an unpopular level. They are ...

and sponsored scrap drives that collected

aluminum Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

, fats, and

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

for

recycling Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. This concept often includes the recovery of energy from waste materials. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the propert ...

. In 1945, the partnership with Skaggs was disbanded and Albertsons was founded. Albertson would be chairman of the board until 1976, when he stepped down at age 70. By that time, the company had grown to over 300 stores and achieved $1 billion in annual sales.

J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation

In 1966, Joe and Kathryn established the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation to manage their charitable giving. The foundation focuses on giving primarily to education, an area of personal importance as Joe and Kathryn were both unable to finish college during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. Since then, the foundation has given more than $750 million to Idaho's communities, particularly in areas where Joe and Kathryn lived or worked. Their initiatives focus on learning, leadership, and community. Albertson donated over $72 million to the

. In recognition of his generosity, the college was renamed the Albertson College of Idaho from 1991 to 2007. The Kathryn Albertson Park in Boise, with its winding walkways, wildflowers, trees, and ponds, was donated to the citizens of Idaho. The College of Business and Economics at the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho, United States. Established in 1889 and opened three years later, it was the state's sole university for 71 years, until 1963. The un ...

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

is named for Joe Albertson.

References

External links

The College of Idaho
- a brief history from its official website
J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Albertson, Joe 1906 births 1993 deaths American retail company founders People from Boise, Idaho College of Idaho alumni Idaho Republicans People from Caldwell, Idaho People from Yukon, Oklahoma 20th-century American businesspeople American grocers Philanthropists from Idaho 20th-century American philanthropists Albertsons people