Lowe’s Market has announced the death of Roger Lowe Sr., president and chairman. He died Oct. 3 following a brief illness.
Lowe Sr. and his father, Bud Lowe, opened their first grocery store in Olton, Texas, in 1963; however, the family’s history can be traced back to the late 1940s when Bud Lowe started his career selling candy and sundries with one truck distributing throughout the town of Littlefield.
Together, the father and son duo founded Lowe’s Market on the principle of taking care of the community, their teammates and their family. That philosophy has allowed the company to grow to 153 stores with approximately 6,000 teammates covering Texas and New Mexico, with additional stores in Colorado, Kansas and Arizona.
Throughout the years, Lowe Sr. had to face many adversities, but he relied on his faith in God and a strong, determined perseverance to see him through. He was well-known for providing guidance to young leaders within the company and would often tell them, “God, family and the grocery business – keep your priorities in that order and your life will go a whole lot better.”
[RELATED: Roger Lowe Sr. – A Lasting Legacy Of Passion, Partnerships And Persistence]
Early in his career, Lowe Sr. recognized that he needed to partner with a dependable wholesaler, driving him to work with Affiliated Foods (AFI) in Amarillo. He joined the AFI Board of Directors in 1972, and he became chairman of the board for AFI in 1982. Lowe Sr. served on the board for 50 years and was the chairman for 40 years before retiring from the AFI board in 2022. During that time, he built thousands of relationships while growing his own business and AFI into one of the largest wholesalers in the U.S.
Lowe Sr. received numerous awards and recognition throughout the years. Most recently, in 2016, Roger received national recognition and was awarded the National Grocers Association’s Thomas Zaucha Entrepreneurial Award for Excellence. In 2022, Lowe Sr. was inducted into The Shelby Report of the Southwest’s Food Industry Hall of Fame while Lowe’s Market was named The Shelby Report of the Southwest’s Retailer of the Year.
Visitation will be held from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Oct. 8 at the First Baptist Church MAC (gymnasium). Funeral services are being arranged by Hillcrest Funeral Home of Littlefield, Texas, and will be held at 2 p.m. on Oct. 9 at First Baptist Church in Littlefield with Pastor Tanner Wilson officiating.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to 29 Acres.
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