Julia Waldbaum (July 4, 1897 – September 30, 1996) was an American businesswoman and philanthropist, a co-owner of

Waldbaum's Waldbaum's was a supermarket chain with stores in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx; and in Nassau, Suffolk counties and Upstate New York. The chain also for a time operated stores in New Jersey, Connec ...

supermarket chain and the company's secretary.Naomi Geschwind
Julia Waldbaum
Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women

Biography

Julia Leffel was born in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

and raised in

Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn Bedford–Stuyvesant (), colloquially known as Bed–Stuy, is a neighborhood in the northern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Bedford–Stuyvesant is bordered by Flushing Avenue to the north (bordering Williamsburg), Classon A ...

. She was the third of six children. Her parents were Anna and Harry Leffel. She married Israel (aka Izzy) Waldbaum when she was 21, and he was 28. He owned a grocery store, and she worked there, they brought three children together. Lawrence Van Gelder
Julia Waldbaum, 99, Owner Of a Chain of Supermarkets

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

, October 3, 1996 In 1947, at age 55, her husband had died. At the time, the family-owned a chain of seven stores. In 1986, A&P bought the chain from the family. At that year, the chain consisted of 140 stores and had a revenue of $1.37 billion. In the 1960s, the chain expanded significantly and sold 400 products under the Waldbaum's label; almost all of them carried her picture along with her recipes, which she created at her home. She used to make 30 surprise inspections in the stores each month, even after the acquisition in 1986, taking care of quality, service, and cleanliness. She was the benefactress at charity fund-raising dinners, along with donations to opera and

foster homes Foster care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a ward, group home (residential child care community, treatment center, etc.), or private home of a state-certified caregiver, referred to as a "foster parent" or with a family mem ...

. Waldbaum died in her sleep at her home in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, at the age of 99. She was survived by a son, a daughter, ten grandchildren, and twenty-four great-grandchildren. Julia Waldbaum, 99
Supermarket News, October 7, 1996

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waldbaum, Julia American Orthodox Jews American people of Jewish descent American women philanthropists 20th-century American businesswomen 20th-century American businesspeople American women business executives Businesspeople from Brooklyn 1897 births 1996 deaths Jewish women in business Jewish women philanthropists