Philanthropist Kresge, Son of Stores’ Founder, Dies at 85

Stanley S. Kresge, the deeply religious, tea-totaling son of the founder of the Kresge Co., the nation’s second-ranked retail chain, has died at age 85.

Kresge, son of Sebastian S. Kresge, died Sunday of a heart attack at Crittendon Hospital in the suburb of Rochester.

Kresge, who lived in the suburban Pontiac area, became a trustee of the philanthropic Kresge Foundation in 1931 and was its president from 1952 to 1966. He was chairman of Kresge Co., forerunner of K mart Corp., from the death of his father in 1966 until 1967.

In May he announced that he had been giving away his K mart stock when he learned that some of the stores were selling beer and wine.

“Alcohol does so much harm to so many people,” he said in announcing that he had given $800,000 worth of K mart stock to Duke University Divinity School in North Carolina.

He also expressed displeasure that the K mart stores, with sales of $20 billion last year, were staying open on Sundays.

The donation to Duke was only the latest of his philanthropies, many of which centered around the Methodist Church. A man of simple tastes who wore modest suits, he was a former chairman of the board at Metropolitan United Methodist Church in Detroit.

Kresge is survived by his wife, Dorothy; sons, Walter, Stanley S. Jr. and Bruce; 15 grandchildren, and 16 great-grandchildren.