VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Gene Walters, a former chief executive officer of Farm Fresh and later an independent grocer, died here this week at age 86, according to reports. He had suffered congestive heart failure in 2005 and never fully recovered, according to the Virginian-Pilot newspaper.

Walters worked for Kroger Co. before joining Farm Fresh, which is now owned by Minneapolis-based Supervalu, in 1966. By the time he left in 1987 to start his own chain, Gene Walters' Marketplace, he had become CEO of Farm Fresh. In 1992 he sold his stake in Gene Walters' Marketplace, which had grown to 14 locations, to Farm Fresh.

"The supermarket business has been awfully good to me," Walters said in a 1992 interview, the Virgina-Pilot reported.

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