John G. Schwegmann
Encyclopedia
John Gerald Schwegmann, Jr., (August 14, 1911 – March 6, 1995) was a pioneer in the development of the modern supermarket
. He owned eighteen stores in the Greater New Orleans area, based from Metairie, a large unincorporated city in Jefferson Parish. He was also active in Louisiana
politics, having served in the state House of Representatives
from 1960 to 1968, the state Senate from 1968 to 1972, and the Louisiana Public Service Commission
from 1975 to 1980. He was a political maverick who also mounted an unconventional -- and unsuccessful -- campaign for governor in the 1971 Democratic
primary.
, Schwegmann's Grocery and Bar, located at the intersection of Burgundy and Piety streets in the Bywater
neighborhood of New Orleans. His German-born grandfather had founded the store in 1869. The business was later commemorated by Schwegmann's Old Piety & Burgundy Whiskey. In the early years, the store had no heat in the winter, and the front doors were left open, often allowing cold wind to blow into the business. John Schwegman reflected that "If the clerks complained, they were told [that] heat would make them drowsy and that it would take the bloom off the fruits and vegetables, even though olive oil
was freezing and breaking on the shelves. However, the real reason for keeping the doors open was to show that the store was open and ready for business."
Schwegmann's formal education was limited to grammar school, a year at Holy Cross Catholic High School
, and six months at Soule College. He worked for the U.S. Post Office
and as a salesman for a margarine
manufacturer. He took a job with Canal Bank
& Trust Company, which closed in 1933. He worked in real estate
until 1939, when he joined his father's store.
interrupted his business career. Thereafter, on August 23, 1946, he and two brothers, Anthony Schwegmann and Paul Schwegmann, opened the first Schwegmann Brothers Giant Super Market, located on St. Claude Avenue near the intersection of Elysian Fields Avenue. The operation in time grew to eighteen stores with 5,000 employees. Schwegmann's massive modern supermarket sold everything from gourmet food to garden supplies.
The Schwegmanns revolutionized grocery shopping in New Orleans, and their outlets soon mushroomed. By 1957, there were Schwegmann stores, large in size, all over New Orleans. The largest store was the one on Old Gentilly Road. At the time, it was the biggest supermarket in the world -- a staggering 155000 square feet (14,400 m²). The supermarket attracted both customers and onlookers, who came by tour buses to see the structure.
"He was the first person to take us past the mom-and-pop business into the supermarket business", said his son, John F. Schwegmann
(born 1945), the chief executive officer of the privately held chain from 1979 until the company was sold in 1997.
"Everything he's touched has turned to money", said Saul Stone, one of Schwegmann's attorneys, in a 1979 interview. "He's some lucky kind of guy." Stone added that "The best way to success was volume with a low markup. He [John Schwegmann] said [that] he would rather make $100 off $1,000 in sales than make $50 on $100 sales."
The Schwegmanns introduced New Orleans to self-service shopping, then a novelty that eventually became an ordinary feature of American life and doomed the smaller stores in which proprietors filled each customer's order. For a time, the Schwegmanns still offered full service for traditional shoppers, but they encouraged customers to gather their own items from the shelves and to take their baskets to the checkout counter. While this innovation was not initially well received, shoppers accepted the idea quickly so that they could obtain a 10 percent discount if they helped themselves.
"There are richer and smarter people in the world than I am, but they're no better", the self-confident Schwegmann said in an interview a generation after he opened his first supermarket. "We're all selling something to someone else. . . . I never look down; I always look up."
He also founded Schwegmann Bank & Trust Co., which was later purchased by Jefferson Guaranty Bank.
to oppose the law, and Stone agreed to represent him. "That made him a litigator", Stone said. "He liked it. He wanted to fight."
The Louisiana Supreme Court declared the markup law on alcohol unconstitutional.
Schwegmann's next fight was against the state's fair-trade
law, which permitted manufacturers to set retail prices for an entire area by entering into a contract with just one retailer in that
region.
The crusade was successful in the U.S. District Court, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
in New Orleans, and the U.S. Supreme Court. While the Supreme Court did not technically strike down the law, it held that merchants could not be forced to charge certain prices.
"The next move was to get the state's fair-trade law thrown out", Stone said. "It was. A second law was passed, but the state Supreme Court threw it out in 1965."
In 1965, state Revenue Collector Ashton J. Mouton
, a former mayor
of Lafayette
, sued Schwegmann Brothers to collect for the state sales, use and occupational license taxes plus interest in the amount of $62,517.98. Schwegmann appealed the assessments to the Louisiana Board of Tax Appeals. Ten years later, the tax board ruled in Mouton's favor, some five years after he had left the collector's position. Thereafter, Mouton sued to collect another $103,290.59. Schwegmann answered and denied liability. The two cases were consolidated in the trial court by consent of the parties. In the trial, Mouton was upheld in both cases.
against milk price-fixing. It pitted him against, first, the state
agriculture commissioner, Dave L. Pearce
, and, later, the state Milk Commission, which could set milk prices at the processing and retail levels, said Michael R. Fontham
, another Schwegmann attorney.
The federal suit, which grew out of Schwegmann's attempts to import cheaper out-of-state milk, was in litigation for eight years, Fontham said. Finally, a three-judge panel said that Schwegmann could not be barred from buying cheaper milk.
After that, the state eliminated the Milk Commission. It was replaced in 1975 by the Dairy Stabilization Board, which can prescribe a minimum price processors must pay to farmers.
One out-of-state company from which Schwegmann bought milk was Dairy Fresh Corp., an Alabama firm with a processing plant in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Louisiana health officials tried to impound the milk, Fontham noted, but eventually Schwegmann was allowed to bring it into the state.
Such battles were "altruistic", Stone said. "He favored unrestricted, free competition. It's principle, nothing personal with it. He had nothing to gain at all."
In the legislature, Schwegmann declared his independence and acquired the reputation of a maverick. Because of his crusades and feuds, many of his bills were not voted upon or rejected outright. In a 1962 speech, he said, "How can you win with a stacked house? I came out fighting, and at least I was loyal to the people."
Schwegmann became a persistent critic of the administrations of his fellow Democrats, Governors Jimmie Davis
and John Julian McKeithen
, and he acquired a wide variety of enemies. Former New Orleans Mayor Maurice "Moon" Landrieu
, another fellow Democrat, once declared that Schwegmann was "so poorly informed on the governmental process, you have to excuse him on the basis of ignorance." On several occasions thereafter, the Landrieus and Schwegmanns would find themselves fighting each other politically.
In the legislature, Schwegmann voted against such measures as pay raises for public officials and tax increases. He also opposed building the popular Louisiana Superdome
with state bonds and filed three lawsuits in an attempt to block construction. The original estimate of the cost of the stadium was $35 million, but years before it was finished, Schwegmann predicted that it would cost between $150 million and $200 million. The final cost was $179 million.
The Superdome was one of McKeithen's pet projects, and the governor tried to use his legendary charm to win Schwegmann over to his side. During one exchange, McKeithen said, "Now, John's going to be reasonable about this. After all, we can help him. John, what can we do for you?"
"Governor, you can't do nothin' for me", Schwegmann replied.
d. He outlived both wives by ten months, and the ex-wives died within three days of each other.
Schwegmann wed the former Mary Elizabeth Geisenheimer (May 22, 1917 -- May 27, 1994) of Metairie in the mid-1940s, and they divorced shortly after she gave birth to his two sons, John F. Schwegmann and Guy Schwegmann, who was born with a development disorder. A native of New Orleans, Mary Schwegmann met her husband at a dance school. She worked as a cashier in the company's first supermarket. After the divorce, Mrs. Schwegmann devoted herself to raising her two sons. John F. Schwegmann said that his mother was "not a socialite or what you would call a big civic mover. . . . Guy needed a lot of special attention, and all of her civic involvement was toward the mentally retarded." The first Mrs. Schwegmann devoted much of her time to the Magnolia and the Louise Davis schools. In her later years, Mary Schwegmann developed an almost maternal relationship with John F. Schwegmann's half-sister, Margaret "Margie" Schwegmann-Brown, a daughter from her former husband's second marriage.
Schwegmann's second wife was the former Melba Margaret Wolfe (August 24, 1926 -- May 30, 1994) of Metairie. She died in Touro Infirmary on the same day as the funeral of Mary Schwegmann. The second Mrs. Schwegmann was also a native of New Orleans and a graduate of Eleanor McMain High School. She met John G. Schwegmann while she was working for the Bell telephone company, and he was launching his grocery chain. They were married in 1951. Mrs. Schwegmann and her former husband remained close after their marriage ended. At the time of her death, she had been ill for a number of years.
Schwegmann's last court battle involved a $30 million suit filed in 1979 by Mary Ann Blackledge, a former clerk in a Schwegmann's store, who claimed that she and the supermarket magnate had cohabitated as husband and wife for 12 years in a common-law arrangement. She sought $30 million as her share of the wealth they had accumulated while they were together.
In 1982, state District Judge Frank V. Zaccaria ruled that Blackledge could not file such a suit unless she had a written contract. He said that she could, however, sue to recover money that she may have spent in business relationships with Schwegmann, but she never brought forth a suit of that nature.
s in 1977 and 1978, he turned over control of his supermarkets to his son. He resigned from the PSC in October 1980. John F. Schwegmann was, likewise, elected public service commissioner and continued in his father's footsteps. Among the PSC colleagues of the Schwegmanns was the developer Francis Edward Kennon, Jr.
, originally of Minden
in Webster Parish.
John F. Schwegmann bought the 28 stores of the Louisiana division of the National Tea Company owned by Loblaw of Canada.
outlets. He added these 28 stores to the 18 other Schwegmann locations in 1995. However, a year later, after much financial trouble, the Schwegmann chain was sold. Schwegmann's relatives, including his half sister, sued him for damages because of his alleged mismanagement.
It was once said that only in New Orleans can one become emotional about a grocery store because people in the Crescent City do take their food very seriously.
, particularly on matters of economics and government reform. He used his grocery store advertisements to espouse his political views. He often used pithy expressions, witty statements, or philosophical insight in an attempt to convince his customers to adopt his political views. He spoke out on a plethora of issues, including price-fixing, the Pentagon Papers
, taxation, and the Louisiana Superdome. He set forth his opinions in mini-editorials that were part of the advertising for the grocery chain. He printed the names of candidates that he supported on the company's shopping bags.
He did not to seek a second term in the state Senate but chose to run for governor in a bid to succeed the term-limited John McKeithen.
Schwegmann selected a state House colleague, Representative Parey Pershing Branton, Sr.
, of tiny Shongaloo
in Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana. Schwegmann, who had served with Branton in the House when both were freshman legislators, came from about as far south in Louisiana as one could live, and Branton came from the far northern portion of the state. Geographically, if not philosophically, the Schwegmann-Branton ticket spanned the length of the Bayou State. Edward Kennon was also a lieutenant governor candidate that year. He finished third in the balloting with 162,944 votes. He and Branton competed for some of the same voters in northwest Louisiana.
Schwegmann campaigned throughout the state but was unable to sway voters. Though his advertising made him appear to be bombastic, outspoken, and extroverted, he was the opposite on the campaign trail: meek, introverted, almost shy in meeting strangers. He received only
92,072 votes, a weak fifth-place showing. The fiscally conservative message plugged by Schwegmann and Branton was moreover rejected statewide. The three top candidates for governor, Schwegmann's state Senate colleague, J. Bennett Johnston, Jr. of Shreveport in Caddo Parish, then Congressman Edwin Washington Edwards, of Crowley
in Acadia Parish, and former Congressman (later to return to Congress) Gillis William Long
of Alexandria
. Edwards and Long were identified with the liberal, populist wing of the party, while Johnston was considered a moderate. Only fourth-place candidate, former Governor Jimmie Davis
was considered more in the "conservative" faction of the dominant Louisiana party.
Schwegmann, however, did run nearly five thousand votes ahead of another conservative primary candidate, three-term Lieutenant Governor Clarence C. "Taddy" Aycock
of Franklin
in St. Mary Parish
, who floundered badly in his gubernatorial campaign. Edwards and Johnston went into the second primary, which Edwards won by a close vote. Edwards then defeated Schwegmann's Jefferson Parish neighbor, Republican David C. Treen
in the March 1972 general election
. Parey Branton, meanwhile, barely registered in the lieutenant governor's race: he polled 53,295 votes, left state politics, but later served eighteen years as mayor of Shongaloo.
, his daughter-in-law, was the first woman to serve as lieutenant governor (1992–1996), and John F. Schwegmann was his father's successor on the state Public Service Commission, having served from 1981 to 1996.
Schwegmann was prone to boast of his success: "I'm a multimillionaire. I make more money accidentally than most people do on purpose."
Prior to his death, John G. Schwegmann had been in poor health for several years after a second series of strokes. He died in Touro Infirmary, as did his second wife.
Survivors included the two sons by his first wife, John F. Schwegmann and Guy G. Schwegmann; a daughter from his second marriage, Margie Schwegmann-Brown; a brother, Anthony Schwegmann; a sister, Marguerite Barrios; and four grandchildren, John Guy Schwegmann, Heidi Schwegmann, Laurie Schwegmann, and Jack Brown.
A mass was said at noon, March 8, 1995, at Holy Trinity Catholic Church at 721 St. Ferdinand St. The historic church has since closed because of declining attendance and termite infestation.
Schwegmann and both of his wives are buried in Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans.
Related stories: John F. Schwegmann
, Melinda Schwegmann
, Parey Branton
, Edward Kennon
.
Supermarket
A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...
. He owned eighteen stores in the Greater New Orleans area, based from Metairie, a large unincorporated city in Jefferson Parish. He was also active in Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
politics, having served in the state House of Representatives
Louisiana House of Representatives
The Louisiana House of Representatives is the lower house in the Louisiana State Legislature, the state legislature of the US state of Louisiana. The House is composed of 105 Representatives, each of whom represents approximately 42,500 people . Members serve four-year terms with a term limit of...
from 1960 to 1968, the state Senate from 1968 to 1972, and the Louisiana Public Service Commission
Louisiana Public Service Commission
Louisiana Public Service Commission is an independent regulatory agency which manages public utilities and motor carriers in Louisiana. The commission has five elected members chosen in single-member districts for staggered six-year terms...
from 1975 to 1980. He was a political maverick who also mounted an unconventional -- and unsuccessful -- campaign for governor in the 1971 Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
primary.
From humble beginnings
Schwegmann was born above his father's small grocery storeGrocery store
A grocery store is a store that retails food. A grocer, the owner of a grocery store, stocks different kinds of foods from assorted places and cultures, and sells these "groceries" to customers. Large grocery stores that stock products other than food, such as clothing or household items, are...
, Schwegmann's Grocery and Bar, located at the intersection of Burgundy and Piety streets in the Bywater
Bywater, New Orleans
Bywater is a neighborhood of the city of New Orleans. A subdistrict of the Bywater District Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are: Florida Avenue to the north, the Industrial Canal to the east, the Mississippi River to the south and Franklin Avenue Street to the west...
neighborhood of New Orleans. His German-born grandfather had founded the store in 1869. The business was later commemorated by Schwegmann's Old Piety & Burgundy Whiskey. In the early years, the store had no heat in the winter, and the front doors were left open, often allowing cold wind to blow into the business. John Schwegman reflected that "If the clerks complained, they were told [that] heat would make them drowsy and that it would take the bloom off the fruits and vegetables, even though olive oil
Olive oil
Olive oil is an oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and as a fuel for traditional oil lamps...
was freezing and breaking on the shelves. However, the real reason for keeping the doors open was to show that the store was open and ready for business."
Schwegmann's formal education was limited to grammar school, a year at Holy Cross Catholic High School
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
, and six months at Soule College. He worked for the U.S. Post Office
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
and as a salesman for a margarine
Margarine
Margarine , as a generic term, can indicate any of a wide range of butter substitutes, typically composed of vegetable oils. In many parts of the world, the market share of margarine and spreads has overtaken that of butter...
manufacturer. He took a job with Canal Bank
Bank
A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...
& Trust Company, which closed in 1933. He worked in real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
until 1939, when he joined his father's store.
Launching a supermarket chain
World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
interrupted his business career. Thereafter, on August 23, 1946, he and two brothers, Anthony Schwegmann and Paul Schwegmann, opened the first Schwegmann Brothers Giant Super Market, located on St. Claude Avenue near the intersection of Elysian Fields Avenue. The operation in time grew to eighteen stores with 5,000 employees. Schwegmann's massive modern supermarket sold everything from gourmet food to garden supplies.
The Schwegmanns revolutionized grocery shopping in New Orleans, and their outlets soon mushroomed. By 1957, there were Schwegmann stores, large in size, all over New Orleans. The largest store was the one on Old Gentilly Road. At the time, it was the biggest supermarket in the world -- a staggering 155000 square feet (14,400 m²). The supermarket attracted both customers and onlookers, who came by tour buses to see the structure.
"He was the first person to take us past the mom-and-pop business into the supermarket business", said his son, John F. Schwegmann
John F. Schwegmann
John F. Schwegmann is a Metairie businessman, who was elected as a Democrat to the Louisiana Public Service Commission in 1981 to succeed his father, John G. Schwegmann. In 2002, Schwegmann declared himself an independent. He served for 15 years on the PSC, the public body which regulates rates of...
(born 1945), the chief executive officer of the privately held chain from 1979 until the company was sold in 1997.
"Everything he's touched has turned to money", said Saul Stone, one of Schwegmann's attorneys, in a 1979 interview. "He's some lucky kind of guy." Stone added that "The best way to success was volume with a low markup. He [John Schwegmann] said [that] he would rather make $100 off $1,000 in sales than make $50 on $100 sales."
The Schwegmanns introduced New Orleans to self-service shopping, then a novelty that eventually became an ordinary feature of American life and doomed the smaller stores in which proprietors filled each customer's order. For a time, the Schwegmanns still offered full service for traditional shoppers, but they encouraged customers to gather their own items from the shelves and to take their baskets to the checkout counter. While this innovation was not initially well received, shoppers accepted the idea quickly so that they could obtain a 10 percent discount if they helped themselves.
"There are richer and smarter people in the world than I am, but they're no better", the self-confident Schwegmann said in an interview a generation after he opened his first supermarket. "We're all selling something to someone else. . . . I never look down; I always look up."
He also founded Schwegmann Bank & Trust Co., which was later purchased by Jefferson Guaranty Bank.
Schwegmann as public service litigant
In 1948, Schwegmann entered a new field of activity: litigation. The Louisiana legislature had passed a law requiring a minimum markup on alcoholic beverages at all levels of the merchandising chain. Schwegmann was convinced that stores should be able to set their own prices. He volunteered to be the plaintiff in a test caseTest case
A test case in software engineering is a set of conditions or variables under which a tester will determine whether an application or software system is working correctly or not. The mechanism for determining whether a software program or system has passed or failed such a test is known as a test...
to oppose the law, and Stone agreed to represent him. "That made him a litigator", Stone said. "He liked it. He wanted to fight."
The Louisiana Supreme Court declared the markup law on alcohol unconstitutional.
Schwegmann's next fight was against the state's fair-trade
law, which permitted manufacturers to set retail prices for an entire area by entering into a contract with just one retailer in that
region.
The crusade was successful in the U.S. District Court, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
United States courts of appeals
The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal court system...
in New Orleans, and the U.S. Supreme Court. While the Supreme Court did not technically strike down the law, it held that merchants could not be forced to charge certain prices.
"The next move was to get the state's fair-trade law thrown out", Stone said. "It was. A second law was passed, but the state Supreme Court threw it out in 1965."
In 1965, state Revenue Collector Ashton J. Mouton
Ashton J. Mouton
Ashton Joseph Mouton, Sr. , was a United States businessman and politician who became, at thirty-one, the youngest mayor in the history of Lafayette, Louisiana. A Democrat, Mouton was elected mayor in 1948. He served two four-year terms and left office in 1956...
, a former mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Lafayette
Lafayette, Louisiana
Lafayette is a city in and the parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the Vermilion River. The population was 120,623 at the 2010 census...
, sued Schwegmann Brothers to collect for the state sales, use and occupational license taxes plus interest in the amount of $62,517.98. Schwegmann appealed the assessments to the Louisiana Board of Tax Appeals. Ten years later, the tax board ruled in Mouton's favor, some five years after he had left the collector's position. Thereafter, Mouton sued to collect another $103,290.59. Schwegmann answered and denied liability. The two cases were consolidated in the trial court by consent of the parties. In the trial, Mouton was upheld in both cases.
The fight against milk price-fixing
Perhaps Schwegmann's best-remembered fight was his battleagainst milk price-fixing. It pitted him against, first, the state
agriculture commissioner, Dave L. Pearce
Dave L. Pearce
David L. "Dave" Pearce was a Democrat who served as the Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry from 1952–1956 and again from 1960-1976...
, and, later, the state Milk Commission, which could set milk prices at the processing and retail levels, said Michael R. Fontham
Michael R. Fontham
Michael R. Fontham is a leading legal author, a law professor, and a practicing attorney and partner at Stone Pigman. He is the author of Trial Technique and Evidence, which is used to teach law students and as a reference guide for litigators. He is also the lead author of Persuasive Written and...
, another Schwegmann attorney.
The federal suit, which grew out of Schwegmann's attempts to import cheaper out-of-state milk, was in litigation for eight years, Fontham said. Finally, a three-judge panel said that Schwegmann could not be barred from buying cheaper milk.
After that, the state eliminated the Milk Commission. It was replaced in 1975 by the Dairy Stabilization Board, which can prescribe a minimum price processors must pay to farmers.
One out-of-state company from which Schwegmann bought milk was Dairy Fresh Corp., an Alabama firm with a processing plant in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Louisiana health officials tried to impound the milk, Fontham noted, but eventually Schwegmann was allowed to bring it into the state.
Such battles were "altruistic", Stone said. "He favored unrestricted, free competition. It's principle, nothing personal with it. He had nothing to gain at all."
Legislative career
Schwegmann's political career actually began as early as 1955, when he lost a primary for a Jefferson Parish seat in the state Senate. After an unsuccessful campaign in 1959 for the Jefferson Parish presidency (an administrative position equivalent to a county commission chairmanship), he won a seat in the state House of Representatives in 1961. In 1968, he was elected to the state Senate, and in 1974, he was elected to the Public Service Commission.In the legislature, Schwegmann declared his independence and acquired the reputation of a maverick. Because of his crusades and feuds, many of his bills were not voted upon or rejected outright. In a 1962 speech, he said, "How can you win with a stacked house? I came out fighting, and at least I was loyal to the people."
Schwegmann became a persistent critic of the administrations of his fellow Democrats, Governors Jimmie Davis
Jimmie Davis
James Houston Davis , better known as Jimmie Davis, was a noted singer of both sacred and popular songs who served two nonconsecutive terms as the 47th Governor of Louisiana...
and John Julian McKeithen
John McKeithen
John Julian McKeithen was the 49th Governor of Louisiana, serving from 1964 to 1972. A Democrat from the town of Columbia, he was the first governor of his state in the twentieth century to serve two consecutive terms...
, and he acquired a wide variety of enemies. Former New Orleans Mayor Maurice "Moon" Landrieu
Moon Landrieu
Maurice Edwin "Moon" Landrieu is a Democratic politician from Louisiana who served as Mayor of New Orleans from 1970–1978. He also is a former judge...
, another fellow Democrat, once declared that Schwegmann was "so poorly informed on the governmental process, you have to excuse him on the basis of ignorance." On several occasions thereafter, the Landrieus and Schwegmanns would find themselves fighting each other politically.
In the legislature, Schwegmann voted against such measures as pay raises for public officials and tax increases. He also opposed building the popular Louisiana Superdome
Louisiana Superdome
The Mercedes-Benz Superdome, previously known as the Louisiana Superdome and colloquially known as the Superdome, is a sports and exhibition arena located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA...
with state bonds and filed three lawsuits in an attempt to block construction. The original estimate of the cost of the stadium was $35 million, but years before it was finished, Schwegmann predicted that it would cost between $150 million and $200 million. The final cost was $179 million.
The Superdome was one of McKeithen's pet projects, and the governor tried to use his legendary charm to win Schwegmann over to his side. During one exchange, McKeithen said, "Now, John's going to be reasonable about this. After all, we can help him. John, what can we do for you?"
"Governor, you can't do nothin' for me", Schwegmann replied.
Two ex-wives die three days apart
Schwegmann was twice married and twice divorceDivorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
d. He outlived both wives by ten months, and the ex-wives died within three days of each other.
Schwegmann wed the former Mary Elizabeth Geisenheimer (May 22, 1917 -- May 27, 1994) of Metairie in the mid-1940s, and they divorced shortly after she gave birth to his two sons, John F. Schwegmann and Guy Schwegmann, who was born with a development disorder. A native of New Orleans, Mary Schwegmann met her husband at a dance school. She worked as a cashier in the company's first supermarket. After the divorce, Mrs. Schwegmann devoted herself to raising her two sons. John F. Schwegmann said that his mother was "not a socialite or what you would call a big civic mover. . . . Guy needed a lot of special attention, and all of her civic involvement was toward the mentally retarded." The first Mrs. Schwegmann devoted much of her time to the Magnolia and the Louise Davis schools. In her later years, Mary Schwegmann developed an almost maternal relationship with John F. Schwegmann's half-sister, Margaret "Margie" Schwegmann-Brown, a daughter from her former husband's second marriage.
Schwegmann's second wife was the former Melba Margaret Wolfe (August 24, 1926 -- May 30, 1994) of Metairie. She died in Touro Infirmary on the same day as the funeral of Mary Schwegmann. The second Mrs. Schwegmann was also a native of New Orleans and a graduate of Eleanor McMain High School. She met John G. Schwegmann while she was working for the Bell telephone company, and he was launching his grocery chain. They were married in 1951. Mrs. Schwegmann and her former husband remained close after their marriage ended. At the time of her death, she had been ill for a number of years.
Schwegmann's last court battle involved a $30 million suit filed in 1979 by Mary Ann Blackledge, a former clerk in a Schwegmann's store, who claimed that she and the supermarket magnate had cohabitated as husband and wife for 12 years in a common-law arrangement. She sought $30 million as her share of the wealth they had accumulated while they were together.
In 1982, state District Judge Frank V. Zaccaria ruled that Blackledge could not file such a suit unless she had a written contract. He said that she could, however, sue to recover money that she may have spent in business relationships with Schwegmann, but she never brought forth a suit of that nature.
Turning the company over to his son
After Schwegmann suffered strokeStroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
s in 1977 and 1978, he turned over control of his supermarkets to his son. He resigned from the PSC in October 1980. John F. Schwegmann was, likewise, elected public service commissioner and continued in his father's footsteps. Among the PSC colleagues of the Schwegmanns was the developer Francis Edward Kennon, Jr.
Edward Kennon
Francis Edward Kennon, Jr. , usually known as Ed Kennon is a multi-millionaire Shreveport real-estate developer and a former Democratic member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission, the regulatory body for oil, natural gas, and utilities. He represented north Louisiana on the commission for...
, originally of Minden
Minden, Louisiana
Minden is a city in the American state of Louisiana. It serves as the parish seat of Webster Parish and is located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport, the seat of Caddo Parish. The population, which has been stable since 1960, was 13,027 at the 2000 census...
in Webster Parish.
John F. Schwegmann bought the 28 stores of the Louisiana division of the National Tea Company owned by Loblaw of Canada.
outlets. He added these 28 stores to the 18 other Schwegmann locations in 1995. However, a year later, after much financial trouble, the Schwegmann chain was sold. Schwegmann's relatives, including his half sister, sued him for damages because of his alleged mismanagement.
It was once said that only in New Orleans can one become emotional about a grocery store because people in the Crescent City do take their food very seriously.
An unconventional gubernatorial campaign
Schwegmann was an outspoken conservativeAmerican conservatism
Conservatism in the United States has played an important role in American politics since the 1950s. Historian Gregory Schneider identifies several constants in American conservatism: respect for tradition, support of republicanism, preservation of "the rule of law and the Christian religion", and...
, particularly on matters of economics and government reform. He used his grocery store advertisements to espouse his political views. He often used pithy expressions, witty statements, or philosophical insight in an attempt to convince his customers to adopt his political views. He spoke out on a plethora of issues, including price-fixing, the Pentagon Papers
Pentagon Papers
The Pentagon Papers, officially titled United States – Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense, is a United States Department of Defense history of the United States' political-military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967...
, taxation, and the Louisiana Superdome. He set forth his opinions in mini-editorials that were part of the advertising for the grocery chain. He printed the names of candidates that he supported on the company's shopping bags.
He did not to seek a second term in the state Senate but chose to run for governor in a bid to succeed the term-limited John McKeithen.
Schwegmann selected a state House colleague, Representative Parey Pershing Branton, Sr.
Parey Branton
Parey Pershing Branton, Sr. , was a businessman from Shongaloo, Louisiana, who was from 1960 to 1972 a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from what is now District 10 in Webster Parish...
, of tiny Shongaloo
Shongaloo, Louisiana
Shongaloo is a village in Webster Parish, Louisiana, United States.West of Shongaloo on Louisiana Highway 2 is Munn Hill, a homestead of Daniel and Rebecca Munn, established on July 26, 1900....
in Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana. Schwegmann, who had served with Branton in the House when both were freshman legislators, came from about as far south in Louisiana as one could live, and Branton came from the far northern portion of the state. Geographically, if not philosophically, the Schwegmann-Branton ticket spanned the length of the Bayou State. Edward Kennon was also a lieutenant governor candidate that year. He finished third in the balloting with 162,944 votes. He and Branton competed for some of the same voters in northwest Louisiana.
Schwegmann campaigned throughout the state but was unable to sway voters. Though his advertising made him appear to be bombastic, outspoken, and extroverted, he was the opposite on the campaign trail: meek, introverted, almost shy in meeting strangers. He received only
92,072 votes, a weak fifth-place showing. The fiscally conservative message plugged by Schwegmann and Branton was moreover rejected statewide. The three top candidates for governor, Schwegmann's state Senate colleague, J. Bennett Johnston, Jr. of Shreveport in Caddo Parish, then Congressman Edwin Washington Edwards, of Crowley
Crowley, Louisiana
Crowley is a city in and the parish seat of Acadia Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 14,225 at the 2000 census. The city is noted for its annual International Rice Festival. Crowley has the nickname of "Rice Capital of America", because at one time it was a major center for...
in Acadia Parish, and former Congressman (later to return to Congress) Gillis William Long
Gillis William Long
Gillis William Long was a Democratic U.S. Representative from Louisiana and member of the Long family. Long served seven non-consecutive terms in the United States House of Representatives but placed third in two campaigns for the Democratic gubernatorial nominations in 1963 and 1971...
of Alexandria
Alexandria, Louisiana
Alexandria is a city in and the parish seat of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies on the south bank of the Red River in almost the exact geographic center of the state. It is the principal city of the Alexandria metropolitan area which encompasses all of Rapides and Grant parishes....
. Edwards and Long were identified with the liberal, populist wing of the party, while Johnston was considered a moderate. Only fourth-place candidate, former Governor Jimmie Davis
Jimmie Davis
James Houston Davis , better known as Jimmie Davis, was a noted singer of both sacred and popular songs who served two nonconsecutive terms as the 47th Governor of Louisiana...
was considered more in the "conservative" faction of the dominant Louisiana party.
Schwegmann, however, did run nearly five thousand votes ahead of another conservative primary candidate, three-term Lieutenant Governor Clarence C. "Taddy" Aycock
Clarence C. Aycock
Clarence C. "Taddy" Aycock , a conservative Democrat from Franklin in St. Mary Parish, was the only three-term lieutenant governor in modern Louisiana history. He served from 1960 to 1972. Aycock failed in his only bid for governor in the 1971 Democratic primary...
of Franklin
Franklin, Louisiana
Franklin is a city in and the parish seat of St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 8,354 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Morgan City Micropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
in St. Mary Parish
St. Mary Parish, Louisiana
St. Mary Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Franklin. As of 2000, the population was 53,500.The Morgan City Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of St. Mary Parish.-Geography:...
, who floundered badly in his gubernatorial campaign. Edwards and Johnston went into the second primary, which Edwards won by a close vote. Edwards then defeated Schwegmann's Jefferson Parish neighbor, Republican David C. Treen
David C. Treen
David Conner "Dave" Treen, Sr. , was an American attorney and politician from Mandeville, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana – the first Republican Governor of the U.S. state of Louisiana since Reconstruction. He was the first Republican in modern times to have served in the U.S...
in the March 1972 general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
. Parey Branton, meanwhile, barely registered in the lieutenant governor's race: he polled 53,295 votes, left state politics, but later served eighteen years as mayor of Shongaloo.
Two other political Schwegmanns
Two members of his family have demonstrated the same interest in government service: Melinda B. SchwegmannMelinda Schwegmann
Melinda B. Schwegmann was the lieutenant governor of Louisiana from 1992–1996 – the first woman to hold the position. She made an unsuccessful run for governor of Louisiana in 1995...
, his daughter-in-law, was the first woman to serve as lieutenant governor (1992–1996), and John F. Schwegmann was his father's successor on the state Public Service Commission, having served from 1981 to 1996.
Schwegmann in retrospect
The sale of the Schwegmann chain had a big impact on the economy of New Orleans. The company ceased to exist in 1996, a year after John G. Schwegmann's death. John F. Schwegmann claimed no responsibility for the failure of the company. He compared his situation to "no good deed" going "unpunished." His half-sister, Margie Schwegmann Brown, and 200 retired Schwegmann employees launched separate lawsuits against John F. Schwegmann in the years after the company's demise. Each won multimillion-dollar judgments against him.Schwegmann was prone to boast of his success: "I'm a multimillionaire. I make more money accidentally than most people do on purpose."
Prior to his death, John G. Schwegmann had been in poor health for several years after a second series of strokes. He died in Touro Infirmary, as did his second wife.
Survivors included the two sons by his first wife, John F. Schwegmann and Guy G. Schwegmann; a daughter from his second marriage, Margie Schwegmann-Brown; a brother, Anthony Schwegmann; a sister, Marguerite Barrios; and four grandchildren, John Guy Schwegmann, Heidi Schwegmann, Laurie Schwegmann, and Jack Brown.
A mass was said at noon, March 8, 1995, at Holy Trinity Catholic Church at 721 St. Ferdinand St. The historic church has since closed because of declining attendance and termite infestation.
Schwegmann and both of his wives are buried in Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans.
Related stories: John F. Schwegmann
John F. Schwegmann
John F. Schwegmann is a Metairie businessman, who was elected as a Democrat to the Louisiana Public Service Commission in 1981 to succeed his father, John G. Schwegmann. In 2002, Schwegmann declared himself an independent. He served for 15 years on the PSC, the public body which regulates rates of...
, Melinda Schwegmann
Melinda Schwegmann
Melinda B. Schwegmann was the lieutenant governor of Louisiana from 1992–1996 – the first woman to hold the position. She made an unsuccessful run for governor of Louisiana in 1995...
, Parey Branton
Parey Branton
Parey Pershing Branton, Sr. , was a businessman from Shongaloo, Louisiana, who was from 1960 to 1972 a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from what is now District 10 in Webster Parish...
, Edward Kennon
Edward Kennon
Francis Edward Kennon, Jr. , usually known as Ed Kennon is a multi-millionaire Shreveport real-estate developer and a former Democratic member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission, the regulatory body for oil, natural gas, and utilities. He represented north Louisiana on the commission for...
.