Mar 10, 2006
The following statement was released on March 10 upon the passing of Mr. O’Connor at a hospice near his home in Wilmette, Illinois.

Michael J. O’Connor was a supermarket industry statesman, visionary and champion of innovation. In his drive to constantly improve the industry, Mr. O’Connor embodied the person praised in these words by historian Daniel Boorstin, “My hero is Man the Discoverer — the person able to overcome the greatest obstacles to discovery — the illusions of knowledge.”
     

Mr. O’Connor joined the industry in 1962 as chief executive of the Super Market Institute (SMI), a forerunner to FMI. “The supermarket industry had just completed a decade of explosive growth and could have lapsed into complacency,” said FMI President and CEO Tim Hammonds. “Mike wouldn’t let that happen, challenging the industry to innovate and grow, always skeptical of conventional wisdom.”


Introduced the Supermarket Industry to the Information Age


Mr. O’Connor was driven by a passionate belief in the power of knowledge, influenced by his close friendship with the late management philosopher Peter Drucker. “Mike introduced the supermarket industry to the Information Age long before most of the business community understood the concept,” Hammonds said.
     

Under Mr. O’Connor’s leadership, SMI developed world-class research and educational programs that enabled supermarkets to keep pace with fast-changing consumers and share best-in-class innovations. He fostered the growth of the association’s Information Service into the world’s largest collection of resources covering all subjects related to food distribution.
     

SMI’s research and educational programs came together at its annual Supermarket Industry Convention and Educational Exposition, known today as the FMI Show. Under Mr. O’Connor’s leadership, this event grew into one of the world’s largest food industry conventions, attended by tens of thousands of executives from more than 100 countries.


Inspired the Industry to Create U.P.C. Scanning


In the late 1960s, he was among the first to recognize the potential of scanning using the Universal Product Code (U.P.C.) — a technology used today in more than 100 countries by over 20 industries as diverse as package delivery, nuclear waste tracking and aerospace.
     

“Mike’s vision and energy helped inspire the industry to develop the U.P.C., commit millions of dollars to an unproven technology, and bring together suppliers, wholesalers and retailers to adopt uniform standards for thousands of products — an absolutely unprecedented feat for any industry,” Hammonds said.


Played a Major Role in Founding FMI


In 1977, Mr. O’Connor left his post at SMI when it merged with the National Association of Food Chains to form FMI. Before departing, Mr. O’Connor played a major role in founding FMI, particularly during a 1976 tour of 47 cities, selling the benefits of the merger to food wholesalers and to retailers ranging from one-store operators to the largest chains.
     

“He helped convince them that their common interests to resolve public issues, better serve consumers and forge stronger alliances with suppliers supersede any competitive differences,” Hammonds said. “FMI thus became the single association representing all sectors of food distribution.”


Discovered Innovations Circling the World Like a Modern-Day Magellan


“Over the decades that followed, Mike circled the world like a modern-day Magellan. He discovered innovations abroad and shared them with U.S. retailers, and introduced the supermarket concept to executives in places as far-ranging as India, the Pacific Rim, Latin America and Eastern Europe.”
     

He shared his discoveries and advanced industry knowledge in numerous educational forums. He was instrumental in developing Coca-Cola Retail Research Councils in the U.S. in 1978 and later in Europe. These groups retained world experts in the industry to explore topics as diverse as selling prepared foods in supermarkets, food retailing in a greener Europe, serving Hispanic shoppers, electronic marketing and introducing supermarkets to Eastern Europe.
     

For 17 years, Mr. O’Connor contributed articles to the prestigious journal International Trends in Food Retailing. He served as an instructor at the Food Industry Management Program at the Graduate School of the University of Southern California; Cornell University; and the Peter F. Drucker Graduate Management Center at the Claremont Graduate University.


Instilled the Mindset That Drives Constant Pursuit of Reinvention


Hammonds concluded, “Last year we celebrated the 75th anniversary of the supermarket. The industry endures and prospers by reinventing itself every day, always searching for better services, new products and more efficient technologies — never satisfied with the status quo.
     

“Over more than four decades, Michael O’Connor instilled in executives everywhere the mindset that drives our constant pursuit of reinvention.”