Joan Miller Shorday, partner in family grocery business and philanthropist, dies at 88

Joan Miller Shorday, 88, a partner in her family business and beloved matriarch, died Saturday, May 15, from cancer in her Abington home.

Mrs. Shorday was a newlywed and starting her own career as a secretary in Philadelphia when her husband, Charles, was drafted to serve in the Korean War. Suddenly it was up to her to take over his small grocery store in Warminster.

“She had never done anything at all in a supermarket before except go to buy groceries, and abruptly she had to learn everything very quickly,” said her daughter Lynn Shorday-Appelbaum. “She was extremely frightened. She didn’t have employees. She had to do everything herself.”

But she did it because their future depended on it. And she never stopped being grateful to the support from her family and others in the community. Charles Shorday was able to eventually open 18 supermarkets in Philadelphia, Bucks, Montgomery and Delaware counties. And the Shordays went on to become major…

Read more…