Erivan Haub

Erivan Haub, 85, of Wiesbaden, Germany, passed away amongst family on Tuesday, March 6, 2018 in Pinedale, Wyoming. Born in 1932 in Wiesbaden, Germany to Elisabeth and Erich Haub he became one of the most successful German business entrepreneurs building The Tengelmann Group into an international retail empire spanning Europe and North America, including The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (A&P). After graduating high school, he completed his retail apprenticeship and then entered a traineeship program in North America in the early 1950s where he fell in love with the country while working at several prominent food retailers in Chicago and Los Angeles and for an import-export company in Cuba. he studied at the University of Hamburg under famous economist Prof. Karl Schiller and graduated from the University of Mainz with a degree in economics. But more importantly than his degree, he met his future wife and love of his life, Helga, while studying in Hamburg and they got married in 1958. They were blessed with three boys, Karl-Erivan, Georg and Christian, who were all born in Tacoma, Washington and cemented his lifelong love for America. Erivan entered the family business in Germany in 1963 and following the death of his uncle in 1969, he assumed the leadership of the Tengelmann Group in the fourth generation, and immediately began to expand the company, which at this point was a mid-sized food retail business. In 1979, he fulfilled his lifelong dream of expanding to America by investing in The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, the country's oldest supermarket business. The Tengelmann Group became one of the largest privately-owned retail companies in the world. Erivan transferred the leadership of The Tengelmann Group to his sons, Karl-Erivan and Christian and took over the role of Chairman of the company's advisory board. Following his 80th birthday and after 50 years of successful engagement in the retail industry, he retired and retreated into private life. He was an avid collector of American Western Art, a love he developed during the time he spent on his ranch in Wyoming where he raised a herd of American bison. Together with his family he decided to donate his collection to the Tacoma Art Museum as a sign of gratitude towards the community he first found a home at in America. Erivan is survived by his wife Helga, his son Karl-Erivan and his wife Katrin with their children, Viktoria and Erivan, his son Georg with his children, Robert, Alexander and Sarina and his son Christian and his wife Liliane with their children, Marie-Liliane, Maximilian, Anna-Sophia and Constantin. Owns the Tengelmann Group, one of Germany's largest food retailers; also 41% of U.S. loss-making grocery chain A&P. The 152-year-old A&P continues to focus its operations on eight states in the Northeast, after having pulled out of New Orleans and the Midwest in late 2007. Haub retired in 2000 and turned over reins to sons Karl-Erivan, Georg and Christian. Big fan of the U.S., owns extensive land in Washington State, a buffalo ranch in Wyoming and a ski resort in the Cascades called Sun Mountain Lodge. Small town celebrity in Tacoma, Wash., thanks to his contribution to the town's revitalization.