Glen R. Henricks, age 84, beloved husband and best friend of Margaret (Leaverton) Henricks, died peacefully at Lake Forest Hospital on Oct. 16.
Born in Chicago in 1930, Glen excelled in all sports and in the classroom. He attended Amundsen High School and was President of his Senior Class. He played football, basketball, and baseball, before going to Illinois College (Jacksonville), where he also played baseball. When he graduated college, he received the Wall Street Journal Award for Economics.
He met his future wife (Margaret Leaverton) at crosstown Mac Murray College. Rejected for Military Service because of his punctured ear drum, they got married after Glen completed graduate school at Michigan State (Retail Marketing). They started their life together in Evanston, Illinois. They’ve been married for 62 years.
His business career started in advertising at Northern Trust Bank in Chicago. Four years later, he helped open several very successful “Surprise Shop” toy stores, before changing jobs and working for the Jewel Tea Company. At Jewel Tea, he was a Route Salesman, then promoted to Buyer of men’s wear, housewares, and toys. Jewel bought Osco Drug and Glen was promoted to join the Osco buying group. A year later, Jewel bought TurnStyle, a Boston-based 5 store discount chain, and his buying responsibilities included toys, sporting goods, camera, hardware, paint, automotive, and garden merchandise. The plan was to build a TurnStyle or Osco Drug store adjacent to a Jewel food store whenever possible. Over time, the Osco Drug stores were more profitable and more predictable then TurnStyle and eventually the TurnStyle stores were sold. Glen became VP of Advertising and Public Relations at Osco. He was elected to the Osco Hall of Fame in 1987.
During that time, he was also elected to the Board of Directors of School District #110, grades K-9 in Deerfield, where his family was living. He served as Deacon of the 1st Presbyterian Church of Deerfield, and President of the Men’s Sports Club of Deerfield High, successfully adding Mothers to the Sports Club.
After 24 successful years at Jewel, he left to help run a 19 store drug chain in Milwaukee for 2 years before it was sold to Walgreens. Out of work briefly, Glen was recruited to sell private label, disposable diapers to retailers around the country. Private label growth was a new concept and the new company, Confab, was very successful nationwide.
Glen eventually retired in 1995.
Survived by his wife, Margaret, they have 5 married children: Tom (living in Nashville), Peter (Atlanta), Jon (Boise), Jim (Mundelein), and Sally (Indianapolis), and 10 Grandchildren. A private family gathering will take place Oct 24. Donations in Glen’s memory should be made to Amundsen High School, Illinois College, or to any local Youth Baseball Organization.
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