Stanley Kresge steps down from the S. S. Kresge Company Board of Directors, ending family participation in the retail company’s governance after 64 years.

The S. S. Kresge Company is renamed the Kmart Corporation; the Kresge family protests the name change. Stanley Kresge says, “I don’t think it makes any sense to change from the name of a founder to a name that doesn’t relate to an individual.”

The fair market value of stocks held by Kresge increases from $377 million to $650 million in a single year, primarily on the strength of its S. S. Kresge Company stock, which is appreciating rapidly on the back of the rapid expansion of the company’s Kmart stores.

The foundation makes a $6 million conditional multiyear commitment to the United Negro College Fund special building and renovation fund drive. It’s Kresge’s largest single grant commitment in its history. Final payment to fulfill the grant was made in 1983.

Stanley Kresge steps down as chairman of the foundation’s board but remains a trustee and is named “honorary chairman.” Bill Baldwin retires as president to become chairman; Ted Taylor is named Kresge’s first full-time president.

Kresge celebrates its 50th anniversary. A total of 3,252 grants have been awarded totaling $207 million since the foundation’s inception.

The foundation conducts a survey of 860 grantees to assess the adequacy of its policies and practices. This is the second of three similar surveys conducted over the next 15 years to assess grantee perceptions of the foundation.

The foundation headquarters move to Troy, Michigan. Kresge begins to sell off its 10.2 million shares of S.S. Kresge Co. stock and executes a stock swap valued at more than $20 million with the Ford Foundation for shares of Ford Motor Company stock. The swap allows both foundations to diversify their portfolios and reduce exposure … Continue reading 1972

Three years after the Detroit rebellion, the foundation moves its headquarters from the central city to an Oakland County suburb. With a massive new headquarters campus under construction in nearby Troy, the S.S. Kresge Co. moves out of the city in 1972.  

Grant commitments increase from $8.9 million (1971) to $28.1 million to satisfy the provisions of the 1969 Tax Reform Act.