In Memory of Fred Meijer: “That’s Just Fred”

Grand Rapids this week is mourning the November 25 death of Fred Meijer, chairman of the Meijer chain of superstores headquartered in the Grand Rapids suburb of Walker, Michigan, and one of our community’s most beloved citizens. 

Two years ago, we published Bill Smith and Larry ten Harmsel’s intimate biography of this retailing giant, told in part by the people in Fred’s life — from store cashiers to American presidents. Fred Meijer: Stories of His Life details the life of this astute businessman, visionary arts patron, and homespun philosopher. 

In this post, we offer an excerpt from the book that highlights three prominent facets of Fred Meijer’s extraordinary character: his amazing memory, his respect for other people, and his modest lifestyle. 

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Fred Meijer: Stories of His Life

That’s Just Fred

Fred has an astonishing memory for people he’s known and worked with all his life; he brings up hundreds of individuals in a series of interviews. He not only remembers their names, he also knows quite a bit about them — their families, where they live, what schools their children go to, the things he and they have in common or disagree about, the things they’ve done together, the good times they’ve had. This kind of ability requires a good memory, of course, but it’s more than simple memory. It stems from a genuine respect and concern for their lives, and from the recognition that they are important to his life. They form a gargantuan extended family gathered over the course of nearly ninety years, and he tries to celebrate in each one of them the uniqueness of the human spirit.

That sort of respect, that brand of humanity, cannot be faked. Someone who says “I can never remember names” would be, to his way of thinking, like someone who says “I can never get around to taking a bath.” It’s a matter of choice, of deciding to take the time and make the effort.

He has always carried a little notebook in an inside pocket, into which he makes entries all day long. The day isn’t really over until he’s gone through his notes, passed on what can be relayed to someone else, re-emphasized the names and places and ideas for himself, shared important information with Lena, and repeated significant items until they have lodged themselves in his memory.

Throughout his business life he has demonstrated the ability to work with many people. In addition to that quality, he somehow encourages them to do their best, to become more than they had thought they could be. He is able to instill loyalty and affection in the people he works with, along with respect.

“It’s important to keep the right kind of perspective about yourself,” he says. “You may be the manager of a large store of ours, and therefore to us you a very important person, the key person in the community of the store. But in the larger scope, that bagger you hire is just as important a human being walking across this earth as you are. Treat him or her that way, and you will see dignity in action.”

Not a Billionaire

On December 17, 2006, the Greenville Daily News, Fred’s hometown paper, published an editorial commemorating the four Greenville men who were at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked. The article noted that the day was also the birthday of Fred Meijer, whom it identified as the “billionaire owner” of the company listed by Forbes magazine as America’s tenth-largest private company. A photocopy of the editorial was sent around the office, and a few days later carried notations and intitials showing that it had been read by Pam (Kleibusch), Rob (Ver Heulen), Doug (Meijer), Hank (Meijer), and Fred. Across the top of the page, in Fred’s distinctive handwriting, is a small inscription: “Billionaire — Not True.”

The disclaimer is typical. Years ago, when he was first included on the Forbes list of America’s wealthiest people, he called the magazine and spent a good bit of time explaining to them they he was not as wealthy as they thought. He had distributed the ownership throughout the family, along with several foundations and charitable trusts, he told them, and thus could not honestly be on their list. For several years it worked, and he was spared the embarrassment of being included on the Forbes list. After all, he prided himself on running a business that was careful about its expenditures, and he did not wish to be included on a list that often featured people thought of in the public imagination as big spenders and high rollers. But in 2007 he was back on it, with an estimated worth of $2.2 billion. The Forbes people’s caveat was that they listed “Frederik G. H. Meijer and Family” rather than Fred himself. But they published his picture, not a family portrait. And their estimate this time may have been a bit short of the mark.

Fred gave up his argument with them, but he has never felt like — or lived like — America’s stereotype of a billionaire. For most of their married life, he and Lena resided in a fairly modest house, which was built for them by a relative. They do not have a summer home on a lake, a chalet in the Alps, or a Florida mansion — let alone a yacht or a private jet. Fred has often said, with a typical twinkle in his eyes, that he could easily have lived in a double-wide trailer. This brings out a knowing smile from Lena. But he means it.

He buys his clothes at Meijer stores, keeping an eye out for a good deal, and the idea of a two-hundred-dollar haircut makes him smile condescendingly. Another example is cars: for much of his adult life Fred has avoided new cars. The notion that prestige could attach itself to an object whose purpose was to get people safely and efficiently from one place to another is utterly foreign to him. Prestige, for him, has other, deeper sources.

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“Fred, in his unpretentious way, has always been a leader. . . . He is able, he is dedicated, and he’s fun.”
— President Gerald R. Ford

Click here to order Fred Meijer: Stories of His Life, by Bill Smith and Larry ten Harmsel.

Click here to visit a memorial website dedicated to Fred Meijer.