Arguably the most influential South African business pioneer Raymond Ackerman breathed his last on Thursday 7 September, prompting all kinds of tributes from every quarter.
This 92-year-old giant of retail is survived by his wife Wendy, children Gareth, Kathy, Suzanne and Jonathan, his 12 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Sharing his memories was former Managing Director of Pick ‘n Pay and close friend of 50 years Hugh Herman: “We worked together for 30 years, and he remained an unassuming, kind and courteous human being. He was never pompous or above anyone else and was a great listener. Raymond had a warmth about him – he was always pleasant and polite.”
Although Ackerman was considered a “fluffy teddy bear”, Herman said: “He was not a pushover in business. He was fair and honest in all his dealings. Raymond was persistent and had tremendous courage in challenging the market and government of the time. His big obsession was always to give people a good deal.”
Herman will forever remember their beautiful symbiotic friendship, having spent a lot of social time together, especially on the golf course.
“He was a good golfer and he never gave up; he always thought he would win. Not only that, he was not all about making money. He was a great philanthropist with a generous heart – he loved to give to others.”
Ackerman was especially close to the Clovelly Golf Club, which his father founded and which was the first non-racial golf club in South Africa.
The legacy of retailing runs in the Ackerman family, with his father, Gus Ackerman, founding Ackermans after World War 1.
Born in Cape Town in 1931, Ackerman was educated at Diocesan College (Bishops) and the University of Cape Town (UCT) in Rondebosch, where he developed the social conscience that is said to characterise his career.
As a product of Bishops, he was president and then the patron of the Old Diocesan Union. He also received seven honorary doctorates from local and international universities.
According to the Bishops Diocesan College’s Facebook tribute: “Ackerman first came to Bishops in January 1944 as a boarder at School House, matriculating in the first class in 1948[…]His desire to help others was evident from an early age and he taught in the Night School, an after-hours initiative to provide education to the support staff of the school.”
The principal of Bishops, Tony Reeler, said he cannot speak too highly of Ackerman. “I want to record the tremendous impact he had on the community of Bishops, since his start as a schoolboy in 1948, putting massive effort into the school.
“He would always visit, asking how the learners and staff were. Even though a man of small stature physically, he was an absolute giant.”
Bishops is currently working on creating a Raymond and Wendy Ackerman Award.
“This award will be given to the schoolboy who shows great entrepreneurial qualities, innovation and service to others in true fashion, as Raymond lived by example.”
From UCT he graduated with a BCom degree in 1951.
It was only 16 years later that he founded Pick n Pay, in 1967, along with Wendy after buying four stores in Cape Town.
Ackerman also moved to promote black employees to managerial positions, in contravention of then-apartheid legislation, appointing Pick n Pay’s first black manager at his Rondebosch store. It took a personal approach to then-Prime Minister John Vorster to persuade the government to turn a blind eye to this and ignore the provisions of the Group Areas Act and Job Reservation Act.
These values have guided the business for over 56 years, and today the Pick n Pay Group serves millions of customers in more than 2 000 stores across South Africa and seven other African countries.
From the very beginning, Ackerman was dedicated to giving customers the best possible products, the best possible value, and the best possible service in his stores. He would stop and ask customers walking home with shopping bags from rival stores why they had not shopped at Pick n Pay.
However, as a man with world-class stature, Ackerman was about much more than shopping. People from far and wide attest to the compassionate employer and committed philanthropist he was.
In 1989, Ackerman and a group of businessmen met newly appointed President FW de Klerk at Pick n Pay’s Cape Town office.
The group told De Klerk that Nelson Mandela should be released as soon as possible and that apartheid legislation should be scrapped.
He was also the driving force behind the bid to bring the 2004 Olympic Games to Cape Town, dedicating considerable energy and funding to the initiative.
In 2004, he established the Raymond Ackerman Academy for Entrepreneurial Development in partnership with the UCT, which was later joined by the University of Johannesburg (UJ).
On their retirement from the board of Pick n Pay Stores Limited in 2010 he and Wendy became honorary life presidents.
He maintained an active interest in Pick n Pay and his philanthropy projects.
He was a devoted father, grandfather and great-grandfather.
All the tributes honouring his life and achievements testify that Ackerman was a man of the people, never too busy or proud to make time for others.
He will forever be a beacon of good business to the nation, with a ferocious tendency to challenge the status quo while opening his heart to others and expressing the generosity that also plays a significant part in his legacy.
