Harvey Kresge Jr., Former K-Mart Executive
Bill Schenley
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/business/5761832.htm
BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. (AP)
Harvey Kresge Jr., a relative of the founder of what
now is known as Kmart Corp., had died. He was 87.
Kresge, who kept homes in Bloomfield Hills and
Florida, died of pneumonia on Saturday in Tequesta,
Fla.
He started his career working at the dime store chain
founded by his father's cousin, S.S. Kresge, helping
the chain grow into one of the world's largest retail
companies.
Harvey Kresge began working for the S.S. Kresge Co.
in 1937, and worked in several Kresge stores doing
various jobs.
He eventually became a district manager in charge of
all Kmart stores in three states.
"Kmart was his whole life," his daughter, Loma
Nessen, told The Detroit News. "When we chose an
assisted living facility, we chose a place that was next
door to a Kmart store.
"He'd walk over there and shop, and everybody there
knew who he was. They called him Mr. K."
Kresge, who was born in Kansas City, Mo., came to
Detroit in 1949, where he was named the Kresge
chain's assistant buyer.
In 1951, he moved up to operations manager and later
was promoted to district manager, where he was in
charge of all Kmart stores in Michigan, Ohio and
Indiana.
During the 1970s, Kresge became Kmart's director of
public relations and was in charge of publicity for the
corporation. He attended ribbon-cutting ceremonies for
the opening of more than 300 Kmart stores.
He retired in 1980, the Detroit Free Press reported
Survivors include his daughter, a sister and a niece.
Services were to be held in Tequesta, Fla., and burial
was to be in the White Chapel Cemetery in Troy.