GRAND RAPIDS, MI — Lena Meijer didn’t demand the spotlight.
Instead, she preferred to stay in the background and let her husband, late grocery entrepreneur Fred Meijer, shine. But despite her quiet demeanor, she played a key role in supporting what is now her family’s billion-dollar Midwest supercenter chain, said former Meijer attorney Rob VerHeulen.
“Fred relied on her so heavily for decisions,” said VerHeulen, who worked closely with Fred and Lena Meijer during his 30-year career at the Walker-based retailer.
“Fred, before he died, I would see him every day. He would pop into my office on the way to his office, and I can just hear him saying, ‘Well, I need to run that by Lena.’”
Lena Meijer died Saturday, Jan. 15 at the age of 102.
She is being remembered by family, friends and community organizations as a warm, friendly, patient and caring mother who used her family’s wealth to support hospitals, universities, outdoor recreation, cultural institutions and more. She is survived by three children, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren in addition to nieces, nephews and cousins.
“Lena is just one of the most wonderful people I have ever known,” said David Hooker, president and CEO of Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park.
Meijer loved flowers, and during her once frequent visits to the gardens she would often stop and speak with residents who were exploring the park, Hooker said.
“Complete strangers, here at the gardens, would approach her and say, ‘Oh, Lena, I’m just so happy to see you,” he said. “Lena would always take a great interest in them. She would ask where they lived, how their family is doing, if they have children.”
Born on May 14, 1919, to German immigrants, Lena Meijer grew up on a family farm near Lakeview, Michigan where she spent her childhood working on the farm, gardening and milking cows. The farmhouse she grew up in was connected to electricity the year she was born.
The DeVos family, in a prepared statement, said “Lena Meijer was a quiet force of nature in our community.”
“She had a warm and giving spirit, that was evident from the moment she walked in any room,” the family said. “She was a friend and partner to our parents / grandparents, as she was to us, and a steadfast supporter of her husband, her family and all of West Michigan. We smile as we think of Lena’s love of flowers and how the Meijer Gardens shares that passion with so many others. Lena lived generously and her legacy will live on through the countless lives she touched.”
Fred Meijer died in 2011 at age 91.
After studying to become a teacher at Central Michigan University, Meijer was hired by Hendrik Meijer to be a cashier at the original Meijer store in 1940, her obituary says. Four years later, she met the grocer’s son, Fred Meijer, and the two went on their first date at a community barn dance.
Fred and Lena Meijer got married in 1946 and moved to Grand Rapids five years later. The couple had three sons, Hank, Doug and Mark.
She never forgot her roots, Hooker said.
Fred Meijer, who also grew up on a small family farm, paid tribute to those roots in 2003 by adding the Michigan Farm Garden to Meijer Gardens in 2003. It includes a reproduction of the Montcalm County farmhouse where Lena grew up.
“We have a sculpture of Lena riding a pig,” Hooker said. “That’s a real thing. She did that as a kid. She grew up on a farm. Lena, at a pretty young age, was out in the barn at 5 a.m. sitting on a three-legged stool milking a cow.”
He added, “She talked about how she could squirt milk into a cat’s mouth five or six-feet away.”
Lena was a part of Meijer business from nearly the start.
She moved to Greenville in 1940, and was hired by Fred Meijer’s father, Hendrik, to work as a cashier in the original Meijer grocery store. She also served as the company’s first bookkeeper, and sat on the board of directors.
Over the years, as Fred Meijer would tour his stores and meet shoppers, Lena was often by his side. But Fred was “always the person with the microphone out there in front,” VerHeulen said, recalling the couple’s public appearances.
“I was trying to think if I’ve ever seen Lena speak publicly at an event, and I can’t think of one,” he said. Later, he added: “She was thoughtful and made her contribution in a way that just wasn’t visible to the outside world.”
Fred and Lena Meijer were also actively involved in supporting the Grand Rapids community through philanthropic efforts, including donating to Spectrum Health’s Fred and Lena Meijer Heart Center and Grand Valley State University.
Matt McLogan, vice president of university relations at GVSU, said Fred and Lena Meijer made a deep impact on the university, supporting many of the university’s fundraising campaigns over the years.
That includes the university’s Meijer Campus in Holland, which was built on land the couple gave to the university. They also supported the creation of the Pew Grand Rapids Campus, the Cook-DeVos Center for Health Sciences, and numerous student scholarships. The university’s honors college is named after Fred Meijer.
McLogan said Lena was a fan of public television, including its nature and gardening programs, and was an “eager supporter of PBS and NPR programing.”
The couple provided the gift that helped bring the university’s PBS and NPR affiliate stations to modern facilities, now known as the WGVU Meijer Public Broadcast Center, in downtown Grand Rapids, he said.
“Generations of students have taken advantage of this special opportunity to study and learn while serving listeners and viewers with great PBS and NPR programs,” McLogan said. “The Meijer name on the broadcast center is an enduring legacy of their foresight and generosity.”
A private family ceremony is planned to honor Lena Meijer.
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