Retail/Wholesale: ROBERT S. ‘BOBBY’ UKROP

Twelve years have passed since a Dutch conglomerate purchased the Ukrop’s grocery chain, which got its start from a Richmond market opened in 1937 by Ukrop’s parents, the late Joseph and Jacquelin Ukrop.

Not long after the sale, Bobby Ukrop, who spent many years as CEO of the family-owned stores, founded Ukrop’s Homestyle Foods with his two sons-in-law, manufacturing baked goods and ready-to-eat meals that had long been popular with Richmonders. Since 2020, customers have been able to buy many of those popular foods — including the company’s famous fried chicken — at Ukrop’s Market Hall, a retail space and food court in western Henrico County.

In February, a panel of judges named Ukrop the first recipient of the RVA Sports Awards’ Community Champion Award, in recognition of his support of regional athletics — which includes his Herculean efforts in the early 1980s to build The Diamond, Richmond’s baseball stadium, and sitting on the board for SwimRVA, a nonprofit that provides pool access and swimming education in the region.

HOBBIES: Golf (still active) and basketball (until age 58)

MOST RECENT BOOK READ: “The Case for Christ: A Journalist’s Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus,” by Lee Strobel