Pick n Pay founder Raymond Ackerman has died

Pick n Pay founder, Raymond Ackerman has died at the age of 92.

The retail entrepreneur founded Pick n Pay in 1967 with his wife Wendy, after buying four stores in Cape Town. 

Over the subsequent 56 years, the retail group grew to more than 2,000 stores across South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Nigeria, Eswatini and Lesotho. 

Ackerman’s father founded Ackermans after World War 1.

Raymond Ackerman launched 26 battles against the government on petrol price cutting but lost.

Read the obituary: Pick n Pay founder Raymond Ackerman, portrayed as ‘inspiring, generous, positive and warm’, has died

In 1989, Ackerman and a group of businessmen met then-President FW de Klerk soon after his appointment and called for the release of Nelson Mandela. 

In 2004, he established the Raymond Ackerman Academy for Entrepreneurial Development in partnership with UCT and later the University of Johannesburg, which has produced hundreds of new business owners.

In 2010, Raymond and Wendy retired from the board of Pick n Pay Stores Limited and became honorary life presidents. 

A Bishops Diocesan College old boy, Ackerman was president and then the patron of the Old Diocesan Union. He received seven honorary doctorates from local and international universities.

Ackerman is survived by his wife, Wendy, children Gareth, Kathy, Suzanne, and Jonathan, his 12 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. DM