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Charles Krasne won't divulge his age, but before taking the reins at his father's food-wholesaling business, he helped develop the first commercial computer with a hard-disk drive. The IBM Ramac, unveiled in 1956, represented a quantum leap from the punch cards Krasne and other programmers used, and it helped unleash the computer age. Asked why he didn't stay at IBM and perhaps become one of the first Silicon Valley billionaires, Krasne replied, "I should have."
Instead, somewhere between 50 and 60 years ago Krasne took over Krasdale Foods, which his father started in 1908. For Krasne, who got an MBA from Harvard, the idea of working for himself was appealing--not to mention that he figured his father's company wouldn't survive unless he ran it.
There's no arguing with the results. Today Krasdale is one of the city's largest privately owned companies, with $675 million in annual revenue.
Now Krasne is giving some thought to who might succeed him as the firm's third CEO in its 110-year history. He isn't sure family members are right for the job because, he said, "they'd all like to have it on a silver platter."
Chief Operating Officer Steve Silver knows Krasdale from top to bottom after 37 years with the company, but Krasne wonders if maybe a fresh face is needed. Thing is, finding one isn't easy, he said, because he doesn't think the grocery business is any more appealing to...