Rite Aid founder dead at 82

HARRISBURG - Alex Grass, who founded Rite Aid Corp. and built it into one of the nation's largest drugstore chains, has died of lung cancer.

Grass, 82, died Thursday night at his Harrisburg home after a decade-long battle with the disease, his daughter, Elizabeth Grass Weese of Baltimore, said yesterday.

Grass was a philanthropist who contributed to civic, health and educational organizations.

"Alex Grass was larger than life," said Rabbi Peter Kessler of Harrisburg's Temple Ohev Sholom, where Grass was a member and where a funeral is scheduled for tomorrow. "He was a great friend to many in his community and throughout the world."

Born in Scranton and educated as a lawyer, Grass' business career took off after he bought a small health-and-beauty-aids store, the Thrif D Discount Center, in Scranton in 1962. He had expanded the business to 50 stores and renamed it by the time it went public in a $25-a-share stock offering in 1968.

By the time he stepped down as the company's chairman and chief executive officer in 1995, Rite Aid was the nation's largest drugstore chain in terms of total stores and No. 2 in terms of revenue.