The Fred Meijer that few knew

Superstore magnate Fred Meijer, who died this past week, was not afraid to take risks. Neither was he your typical entrepreneur. In the introduction to the 1995 book Fred Meijer In His Own Words, his son Hank described him as a “puritan with a rebel’s disdain for convention." He may have inherited that rebellious streak from his maternal grandfather, Gerhard Mantel, a man he met only once as a child.

Mantel, who remained in the Netherlands, associated with Dutch anarchists and socialists. He was a vegetarian, an advocate of birth control, women’s rights and a pacifist. He opposed Nazism, the church and capitalism. Meijer, though clearly a capitalist, shared some of his grandfather’s concern for the disadvantaged and skepticism of government. He was an early opponent of the Vietnam War and favored a woman’s right to choose abortion.

As his wealth grew, so did his influence. He became active in the Urban League and advocated for civil rights and affirmative action. He was not overly religious but was interested in religion, figuring there were positive things in all organized faiths. He once recalled that a prominent member of the community, worried about Meijer’s salvation, once told his wife, Lena, “We have to get Fred right with Jesus." mLive