Hunter Capers Sledd Jr.

SLEDD, Hunter Capers Jr., of Richmond, passed away peacefully in his sleep on the morning of April 23, 2011. He is survived by his wife of more than 62 years, Marian Virginia Hahn Sledd; five sons, Hunter III, Bill, Bob, Randy and Richard; three daughters-in-law, Nancy, Melinda and Sherri; a sister, Virginia (Dee Dee) Rogers; brother-in-law, Joseph Dziuba; eight grandchildren, Adam, Andrea, Michael, Alexandra, Samantha, Drew, Eliott and Sallie; 14 nieces and nephews, several grandnieces and nephews, and a great many people whose lives he touched in the course of his 86 years.

He was born in Richmond, the only son among the five children of Hunter Capers Sledd and Josephine Kusterer Sledd. He and his sisters grew up primarily in the Ginter Park area, and he attended Thomas Jefferson High School before the family moved to Providence Forge in the early 1940s. There he graduated from Charles City High School (third in his class, the other two were girls...) and attended Virginia Tech until he joined the U.S. Navy during World War II. In 1946, after his service in the U.S. Navy, he returned to Charles City with his sights set on becoming a farmer, but fate intervened quickly and he joined Taylor & Sledd, his father's food brokerage business in Richmond. It was his foresight that moved Taylor & Sledd in the direction of foodservice, which ultimately spawned Performance Food Group, a company that became a member of the Fortune 500. In 1948, he married Marian Virginia (Mitty) Hahn, and within a year had started a family that would eventually include the five boys. He became president of Taylor & Sledd in 1955, and served in that capacity until 1981, when he stepped aside in favor of the next generation, and became Chairman of the Board. He remained active in the business until his retirement in May of 1990.

That retirement lasted almost eight months. By January 1991, he was back in the business, taking over Carmine Foods, which had been the local Pocahontas foodservice distributor in Richmond. Carmine Foods became Virginia Foodservice Group, and in the years between 1991 and 1998, when that business was sold to Performance Food Group, he helped increase that company's sales volume fourfold. After this retirement, he continued to work in the foodservice industry, mainly on a consulting basis, for several more years.

In addition to his well known acumen for vegetable gardening that stayed with him even after a move to Cedarfield, he had a very special ability as a breakfast cook, most famously demonstrated on Sunday mornings at his summer home in Locklies, Va. He also had a talent for carpentry that he put to use when he virtually single-handedly created two additional bedrooms, and a bath, in the attic of their home in Bellevue in the early 1950s, when a rapidly growing family required more space. When moving to Chamberlayne Farms in the early 1960s, he acquired an extra lot which he turned into a baseball field that became a haven for his sons and neighborhood kids until they became good enough hitters that nearby homes were imperiled by errant fly balls. This dilemma led him to become a founder of Chamberlayne Laburnum Athletic Association Little League baseball in 1964 serving as president, coach and team manager. He was active in the Boy Scouts of America as well.

Hunter was a charter member of the Central Richmond Optimist Club, serving as president in 1966/67, and was Optimist of the Year in 1968. He served on the Advisory Committee of the Salvation Army Rehabilitation Center, was president of the North Chamberlayne Civic Association, and a board member of the Longwood College Foundation, serving as president from 1976 to '81. In 1980, he and Mitty relocated to Rockville. He joined the Rockville Ruritan Club, serving as president in 1991, and was Ruritan of the Year in 1992. In 1990, he co-founded the Rockville School Park Foundation, and was its first president. The foundation was formed to lease and develop an abandoned school property in Rockville, which now includes baseball fields, soccer fields, and other facilities. He remained a member of St. Matthew's United Methodist Church in Rockville.

Visitation will be Friday, April 29, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Woody Funeral Home, Parham Chapel, at 1771 North Parham Road. A memorial service celebrating his life will be held at the River Road United Methodist Church at 3 p.m. Saturday, April 30, with a reception following in the church fellowship hall. Interment will be private. In lieu of flowers, it is asked that contributions be made to the Rockville School Park Foundation, P. O. Box 100, Rockville, Va. 23146.