Redner Spent Lifetime as Family Grocer

Gary W. Redner, who was killed in March at his home in Lower Heidelberg Township, Pa., was a well-liked member of the senior staff at family-owned Redner’s Markets, a retail institution in Reading, Pa.

“He was a very personable man,” says Redner’s consumer communications specialist Eric B. White, adding that the 55-year-old e.v.p. of procurement and director of wholesale operations was a highly approachable “fixture” at the company’s offices.

Additionally, like all Redner’s corporate executives, Redner was extremely hands-on, performing such tasks as driving product to stores, even on the weekends.

That work ethic was an essential part of his family’s business, which Redner had worked for since it began in 1970. Starting out as a meat cutter in the Red Hill, Pa. store, one of the first two locations purchased by his parents, Earl and Mary, Redner rose through the ranks to become meat manager at various stores within the company.

In 1980 Redner’s took over a small distribution center in Reading, which Redner ran, and he began training as a meat/produce buyer, rising in a short time to become the operator’s lead meat buyer.

In 1990 he was named to his last position. He also served as secretary on the company’s board of directors.

Over the years the business grew to 39 grocery stores and 12 convenience stores in three states.

The youngest of three children, Redner worked alongside his brother Richard, who is company president, c.e.o., and chairman. The two had managed the business since the 1990 retirement of Earl. Gary W. Redner’s son, Gary M., is the director of grocery wholesale operations and assistant to the e.v.p.

Redner’s survivors include his father, his brother Richard, and two adult children.