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FAREWELL

Time continued to take its toll on the food industry's pioneers. Those who passed on during 1996 included the following: ed the first Bruno's Grocery Store on a $600 investment in 1932. He spent 52 years with the company before being slowed down by a heart attack in 1984, after which he served as chairman emeritus. At the time of his death, Bruno's operated 255 stores, with total sales of $2.9 billion.Ray

Time continued to take its toll on the food industry's pioneers. Those who passed on during 1996 included the following:

ed the first Bruno's Grocery Store on a $600 investment in 1932. He spent 52 years with the company before being slowed down by a heart attack in 1984, after which he served as chairman emeritus. At the time of his death, Bruno's operated 255 stores, with total sales of $2.9 billion.

Ray Dillon, 98, former chairman of Dillon Cos., Hutchinson, Kan., in mid-February.

Dillon joined his father and brother in the family business, J.S. Dillon & Sons Stores Co., in 1918 after returning from service in World War I. He became president after his father retired in 1924 and later served as chairman before his retirement in 1979. Dillon Cos. operates more than 200 stores as a subsidiary of Kroger Co., Cincinnati.

Louis Stein, 90, former president of the now-defunct Food Fair Stores chain, based in Philadelphia, in early March. Stein was Food Fair's general counsel before being named president in 1953 -- a post he held until his retirement in 1971.

Dwayne B. "Rhiny" Reinhart, 75, founder of Gateway Foods, La Crosse, Wis., and Rainbow Foods, Minneapolis, in early April.

Reinhart joined Gateway Grocery Co., a 65-store wholesale company, in 1956 and built it into the largest privately held wholesaler by the late 1980s, with sales exceeding $2 billion. In 1989, Gateway Foods became part of Scrivner, acquired by Fleming Cos., Oklahoma City, in 1994.

George W. Jenkins Jr., 88, founder and chairman emeritus of Publix Super Markets, Lakeland, Fla., in mid-April. "Mr. George" opened his first store in Winter Haven, Fla., in 1930. He continued to come to the office as recently as four days before his death, despite a 1989 stroke that affected his speech and confined him to a wheelchair. At the time of his death, Publix operated 541 stores, with total sales of $9.4 billion.

Julian J. Leavitt, 68, former president and chief executive officer of Sweet Life Foods Corp., Suffield, Conn., in mid-April. Leavitt spent 42 years with Sweet Life before his retirement in 1995, a year after the wholesaler was acquired by Supervalu, Minneapolis. Nicholas D'Agostino Sr., 86, founder of D'Agostino Supermarkets, Larchmont, N.Y., in late June.

D'Agostino and his brother Pasquale pooled their savings in 1932 to open one of the nation's first supermarkets, offering meat, produce, baked goods, dairy items and dry groceries under one roof. He and his brother shared all duties, although he carried the title of vice president while his brother held the title of president.

D'Agostino retired in 1964 but remained active as an adviser to his two sons in running the company until 1984. D'Agostino operates 24 stores in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Westchester County.

Julia Waldbaum, 99, former co-owner of Waldbaum's, Central Islip, N.Y., in late September.

Waldbaum served as secretary of the seven stores she and her husband founded. During the 1960s, her picture and recipes appeared on the company's 400 private-label products. Even after the chain was acquired by A&P, Montvale, N.J., in 1986, she continued to visit the stores and conduct surprise inspections.