Allen Bildner

Allen I Bilner passed away on February 5, 2015. Born August 16, 1926, in Maspeth, New York, Allen was married for 64 years to Joan Lebson Bildner, who predeceased him. Allen was the former Chair and CEO of Kings Super Markets, a family-owned company for 52 years until its 1988 sale to Marks and Spencer. He was also a past chair of the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), the supermarket industry's national and global trade association, and a founder and past chair of the New Jersey Food Council. Allen was a respected leader in the Jewish and secular communities, serving on numerous nonprofit as well as for-profit boards including the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, the Maltz Jupiter (Fla.) Theatre, Yankee Sports and Entertainment Network (YES), New Jersey Bell and Seton Hall University. Allen received numerous community and industry honors, as well as awards from Dartmouth College, from which he graduated and from where he received an MBA. In 2002, Allen was named by Supermarket News as one of the 50 visionary food industry leaders of the last 50 years. Along with Joan Bildner, Allen was a co-founder of the Bildner Center for the Study of Jewish Life at Rutgers. Allen is survived by his loving children, sons Rob and Jim, daughters-in-law Elisa and Nancy, and grandchildren Elana, Lizzie, Ari, Eli and Rafi. He is also survived by his sister, Phyllis Schechter, and is predeceased by a grandson, Peter.