Ralph Ketner.

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Legendary grocer Ralph Ketner, who built the largest North Carolina-based supermarket chain and made his initial Rowan County investors rich, died May 29 at age 95. Ketner started Food Lion in 1957 when he was 37. By his retirement as board chairman in 1991, Food Lion had 680 stores. It wasn't easy: The company made a combined $36,000 in its first decade, until Ketner switched to a low-price strategy that sparked rapid growth. Ketner and his brother, Brown, and friend Wilson Smith raised $65,000--$533,000 in today's dollars--from 125 folks in the Salisbury area to start the company. Many became millionaires as Food Lion shares soared in the 70s and '80s. The gains helped make Salisbury one of...