The patriarch of a family-run chain of ShopRite grocery stores, Bernard “Bernie” Francis Kenny Jr., also established an active charitable organization, passed away on December 30. He was eighty-five.

An obituary did not state the cause of death, although it was stated that Kenny and his 59-year-old wife, Peggy, died at home.

Raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey, a short distance from New York City, Kenny enlisted in the US Army as a teenager. Prior to being accepted into the exclusive Airborne Ranger School, he attained the rank of master sergeant in the 101st Airborne.

At twelve years old, he assisted a local butcher in stringing up livestock in a freezer, which marked the beginning of his career in the supermarket business.

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Following the Army, he rose through the ranks of Pathmark, a company located in New Jersey, particularly under the guidance of his mentors, Herb Brody, Milt Perlmutter, and Al Aidekman, who left the Wakefern Cooperative, which operated ShopRites, to manage their stores.

He was employed by Pathmark for many years, rising to the position of senior vice president. However, Wakefern Cooperative hired him in 1995 to buy the Stanton and Brandywine Hundred ShopRite stores in Delaware.

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He founded Kenny Family ShopRites of Delaware, a business that currently operates six sites in New Castle County. At its Riverfront location, the company has the greatest revenue-producing store in the state and is currently ranked among the largest independent grocery store chains in the First State.

The Kennys have always combined family and business since Bernie met Peggy, his wife, in the dairy section of a grocery store. They adopted four more children and raised two together. Between 1966 and 2019, they collectively took care of 113 foster children while working as foster parents in Delaware and New Jersey. The family assisted prospective foster families by acting as mentors and advisors in collaboration with the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services.