Jan 25, 2005
WASHINGTON, DC — January 25, 2005 — In appreciation of their exceptional service to the community, consumers and the industry, Jack Brown, chairman and CEO of Stater Brothers Markets, and William J. Grize, president and CEO of Ahold USA, are this year’s recipients of the Sidney R. Rabb Award. Food Marketing Institute (FMI) Board Chair Liz Minyard presented the awards yesterday at FMI’s 2005 Midwinter Executive Conference in Boca Raton, FL.
     

As head of one of the country’s most successful private companies, Jack Brown “knows his customers and he knows the people who make his company work,” Minyard said.
     

Mr. Brown has served his community well. “It’s hard to find a cause Jack doesn’t support—especially if it involves children and the hungry,” Minyard continued.
     

“Through the Horatio Alger Association, Jack grants scholarships to needy children,” she said. “In 1992, he received the prestigious Horatio Alger Award, honoring his outstanding contributions to the American Dream. He was a founder of the Boys and Girls Club of San Bernardino and helped create the Children’s Fund of San Bernardino County. To date, the fund has served nearly half a million abused and at-risk children.
     

“To help feed the hungry,” she said, “Jack is a champion of Food for All, a program that raises money by selling gift cards and accepting donations at check stands. In order to make the program more efficient and to extend its reach, Jack worked with FMI and the Uniform Code Council to have bar codes put on Food for All cards. With this technology, his company became the first to roll out the program chainwide. Many other companies soon followed his lead.”
     

Mr. Brown is also “a champion of education, as a major benefactor of California State University in San Bernardino,” Minyard said. “Honoring his generosity, the building that houses its College of Business and Public Administration is known as the Jack H. Brown Hall.
     

“For his extraordinary record of service, Jack has received countless honors,” Minyard said. “One of the most noteworthy is the George Washington Honor Medal for patriotism, which he received from the Freedom Foundation of Valley Forge. In fact, Jack was born on Flag Day and is extremely proud of it.”
     

Ahold USA’s Mr. Grize has devoted his entire career to the food industry, spanning 45 years.
     

“Bill’s service to the industry can be summed up in a single word: passion,” Minyard said in presenting the award. “And he has applied that passion most to industry relations.” Mr. Grize is now completing his second term as FMI’s vice chair of industry relations. He also serves on the Uniform Code Council.
     

In these positions, Mr. Grize has worked to “lay the foundation for the technology of the 21st century,” she said. “He has been a strong advocate for the UCCnet and the Global Data Registry, which is the record of products that enables technology to communicate over UCCnet. This technology is the foundation for ending invoice errors and out-of-stocks. Bill’s company was instrumental in developing the Global Data Synchronization Launch Pad, a Web site that provides retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers with a roadmap for synchronization.”
     

Mr. Grize has “carried on the Rabb tradition of community service in many areas,” Minyard said. “The best example is Bill’s support of the Jimmy Fund. This charity supports research and care at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where Bill serves as a trustee.
     

“Under Bill’s leadership, Stop and Shop has become one of the charity’s primary benefactors. The company has joined with the Boston Red Sox to raise over $30 million in the charity’s most successful corporate fundraising effort — the Triple Winner Program.”
     

The company also established what is known today as the Stop and Shop Pediatric Brain Tumor Clinic. This center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute treats 500 children a year.