NEW ORLEANS -- Funeral services were held here last week for John G. Schwegmann, one of the founders of Schwegmann Giant Super Markets here.
Schwegmann chain, operator of 18 stores here, is on the verge of acquiring 29 National Tea stores in the region.
Schwegmann was born above his father's grocery store in 1911. He joined the family business in 1939 and joined with his two brothers in 1946 to open the city's first supermarket.
Schwegmann served as the plaintiff in a series of test cases over the years to preserve the right of grocers to set their own prices: leading the fight in 1948 to declare markup laws on alcoholic beverages unconstitutional; opposing fair-trade laws (under which manufacturers had the right to set retail prices) in the early 1950s, and bringing in milk from out of state in the early 1970s to fight price-fixing by a state milk commission.
He spent 12 years in the Louisiana legislature, in both the House and the Senate, and several more years as an elected member of the state's Public Service Commission.
He is survived by two sons -- John F. Schwegmann, chief executive officer of Schwegmann, and Guy G. Schwegmann; a daughter; a brother; a sister, and three grandchildren.
