Former Fleming Chairman Werries Dies

OKLAHOMA CITY — Funeral services are scheduled here Tuesday for E. Dean Werries, the longtime president and later chairman and chief executive officer of former national wholesaler Fleming Cos.

Werries, 82, died Wednesday at a hospice facility.

He joined Fleming in 1955 as a salesman in the distributor’s Wichita, Kan., office. He was heading the company’s Fleming Foods division when he was named president in 1978 and chairman and chief executive in 1989.

Under Werries’ leadership Fleming stressed food distribution over diversification — acquiring McLain Grocery in Ohio in 1981; Waples-Platter Co. in Texas in 1982; Giant Wholesale in Tennessee and American-Strevell in 1983; United Grocers in Northern California in 1984; Associated Grocers in Arizona in 1985; Frankford-Quaker Grocery Co. in Philadelphia in 1986; Godfrey Co. in Wisconsin in 1988; and Malone & Hyde in Memphis in 1988, which made it the nation’s largest food wholesaler.

Werries retired from Fleming in 1994, and a year later he was named chairman of the Sonic Drive-In restaurant chain.

He was a former chairman of Food Marketing Institute from 1989 to 1991 and the National Grocers Association; and he served as Oklahoma’s secretary of commerce from 1995 until 1997.

Survivors include his wife, Marjean, and two stepsons.