Editing Sol Price

{{Short description|American warehouse retailer (1916–2009)}}
{{Infobox person
|name          = Sol Price
|birth_date    = {{birth date|1916|1|23}}
|birth_place   = [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]], U.S.
|death_date    = {{death date and age|2009|12|14|1916|1|23}}
|death_place   = [[San Diego]], [[California]], U.S.
|education     = [[San Diego State University]]<br>[[University of Southern California]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]], [[Juris Doctor|JD]])
|spouse        = Helen Moskowitz
|children      = 2
|known_for     = [[Costco]], [[Price Club]], [[Fedmart]], [[PriceSmart]]
}}
'''Sol Price''' (January 23, 1916 – December 14, 2009) was an American retailer and the founder of [[FedMart]], [[Price Club]] (which ultimately merged into [[Costco]]) and [[PriceSmart]].<ref>[[PriceSmart]]</ref> He was considered the "father" of the "[[warehouse store]]" [[retail]] model.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Eisner |first=Peter |date=December 14, 2009 |title=Sol Price, philanthropist and entrepreneur, dies at 93 |url=https://www.sdjewishworld.com/2009/12/14/sol-price-philanthropist-and-entrepreneur-dies-at-93/ |access-date=June 6, 2023 |website=San Diego Jewish World}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Price was born in The Bronx in New York City, the son of Samuel and Bella Price, [[Russian Jews|Jewish]] immigrants to the United States from [[Minsk]] (Belarus), in the early years of the 20th century.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/14/AR2009121403336.html Washington Post: "Price Club changed America's shopping experience" By Peter Eisner]  December 15, 2009</ref> The family relocated to San Diego in the early 1920s.

Price graduated from [[San Diego High School]] in 1931, attended [[San Diego State University]] in 1932, and earned his undergraduate degree (in philosophy) and [[Juris Doctor]] degrees from the [[University of Southern California]] in 1936 and 1938, respectively. By 1938, he had married his girlfriend Helen Moskowitz; they eloped to [[Las Vegas]]. Price was admitted to the [[State Bar of California|California Bar]] in November 1938.<ref name=WashPost>{{cite news| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/14/AR2009121403336_2.html| title = Price Club changed America's shopping experience| newspaper = [[The Washington Post]]| author = Peter Eisner| date = December 15, 2009| accessdate = 2011-07-23}}</ref> He founded a firm which merged to become [[Procopio Law]] (known at the time as Procopio, Price, Cory, and Schwartz) where he worked until 1954.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |title=Sol Price: Retail Revolutionary The FedMart Years—1954 to 1975 |url=https://sandiegohistory.org/journal/v56-4/v56-4.pdf |journal=The Journal of San Diego History}}</ref>

==Career==
Price launched the first [[FedMart]] in 1954 and, together with his son, Robert, Giles Bateman, a nephew, Rick Libenson and others, founded [[Price Club]] in 1976. The company went public in 1980.<ref name="WashPost" /><ref name="NYT_Obit">{{cite news
| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/16/business/16price.html
| title = Sol Price, Who Founded Price Club, Is Dead at 93
| newspaper = [[The New York Times]]
| author = Margalit Fox
| date = December 16, 2009
| accessdate = 2011-07-23
}}</ref> In 1993 [[Costco]] merged with Price Club to form PriceCostco.<ref name="WashPost" /><ref name="NYT_Obit" /> Leadership in the new organization was shared between Sol Price's son, Robert, and [[James Sinegal]]. After eight months, PriceCostco spun a separate company called [[PriceSmart|Price Enterprises]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://shop.pricesmart.com/ |title = PriceSmart {{!}} Seleccionar país}}</ref> led by the younger Price. PriceSmart continues to operate warehouse clubs in Latin America and the Caribbean, while the domestic operations became Costco.<ref>Jeffrey Covell (2000) [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_gx5202/is_2000/ai_n19122966/ "PriceSmart, Inc."], International Directory of Company Histories, vol. 71</ref>

[[Sam Walton]] of [[Walmart]] wrote in his book ''Made in America'' that he "borrowed" "as many ideas from Sol Price as from anybody else in the business".<ref name="NYT_Obit" /> He added that he especially liked the idea of calling his discount chain "Wal-Mart" because he "really liked Sol's FedMart name". In 1983, Walton dined with Price and later that year the first [[Sam's Club]] opened in [[Oklahoma City|Oklahoma City, Oklahoma]]. Later when asked how it felt to be the father of an industry (the warehouse retail industry—like Costco and Sam's Club), Sol replied, "I wish I'd worn a condom." Costco's longest-serving CEO, Sinegal, learned the retail business largely through working his way up FedMart's corporate ladder. In [[CNBC]]'s 2012 documentary on Costco, Sinegal indicated that Price had been his mentor, as well as the person who taught him to be "tough" in business, and to display a sense of "social responsibility" toward employees.

==Philanthropy==
In the late 1980s, Price donated $2 million to the construction of a new student center on the campus of [[University of California, San Diego]].<ref name=wpost>
{{cite web| url = http://sdjewishworld.wordpress.com/2009/12/14/sol-price-philanthropist-and-entrepreneur-dies-at-93| title = Sol Price, Philanthropist and Entrepreneur, Dies at 93| author = Peter Eisner| date = December 15, 2009| work =[[San Diego Jewish World]]| accessdate = 2011-07-23}}</ref> Named for Price, [[Price Center]], which houses the main student bookstore, food court, movie theater, ballrooms, and meeting rooms, opened on April 21, 1989.

In 2011, the Price Family Charitable Fund donated $50 million to the University of Southern California's School of Policy, Planning, and Development. The school was renamed the [[USC Price School of Public Policy|USC Sol Price School of Public Policy]] as a result of the donation.<ref>{{cite news|last=Gordon|first=Larry|title=USC School of Public Policy gets $50-million gift|url=http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-usc-gift-20111129,0,6117662.story|newspaper=LA Times|accessdate=1 December 2011|date=November 29, 2011}}</ref>

Price was responsible for injecting money and aiding the renaissance of the [[San Diego]] mid-city neighborhood of [[City Heights, San Diego|City Heights]], near his childhood home. He was a member of the Board of Trustees for the Urban Institute in [[Washington, D.C.]],<ref name="WashPost" /> the Board of Directors for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities,<ref name="WashPost" /> the Consumer Affairs Advisory Committee of the [[U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission]], and the San Diego Financial Review Panel.

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Sol}}
[[Category:1916 births]]
[[Category:2009 deaths]]
[[Category:American people of Belarusian-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from New York City]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from San Diego]]
[[Category:San Diego State University alumni]]
[[Category:USC Gould School of Law alumni]]
[[Category:American businesspeople in retailing]]
[[Category:American chief executives]]
[[Category:Lawyers from San Diego]]
[[Category:Philanthropists from New York (state)]]
[[Category:20th-century American philanthropists]]
[[Category:20th-century American businesspeople]]
[[Category:20th-century American lawyers]]
[[Category:20th-century American Jews]]
[[Category:21st-century American Jews]]
[[Category:San Diego High School alumni]]