Greetings and thanks for writing. This month’s article is not the usual format. Go ahead and take everything seriously.

I just heard about the passing of an important person in the history and development of Weavers Way: Robert Iadicicco. I first encountered Bob at a Weavers Way membership meeting, I think in Fall 1974. Our brand-new Board was struggling over some operational and financial issues with Co-op’s founder Jules Timerman, and there were a couple membership meetings called to talk through the issues. Bob was outspoken in his view that the Board should control the Co-op and he was supportive of our Board taking that control so we’d have proper financial processes and reporting.

I ended up succeeding Jules as manager and Bob ended up joining the Board, I think as Treasurer. Back then, the Board was much more involved in operations, and many Board members were also very active committee chairs — active as in the chair of the Board’s Building Committee installed air conditioners in the store, the chair of the Membership Committee kept member records on file cards, the Merchandising chair did store clean-up and the Treasurer oversaw the setting up of books and produced financial reports. There were meetings to attend and projects to work on every week, sometimes twice a week. Bob immersed himself in Weavers Way, and since we were growing quickly, there was plenty to do. 

Bob’s non-Co-op occupation was a computer systems analyst, and he used those skills to set up and manage our first electronic member database. I remember being in Bob’s East Mt. Airy living room, where he had a terminal hooked up via a phone-modem handset cradle to a computer at some university’s mainframe on which we rented time. Bob would tell it to sort the database, then go eat dinner while it ground through 850 member records. 

He taught anyone around him with an interest in computers about everything from spreadsheets to operating systems, which eventually led to me having enough IT knowledge to be able to set up item databases, point-of-sale systems, scale networks and such in the late ‘80s. 

Like many of the Board members back then, Bob could be said to be politically liberal but fiscally conservative. One of my favorite Bob memories is when we decided Weavers Way was ready to buy a printer. We ended up buying one somewhere in Southwest Philly from some guy Bob knew who had a garage full of used computer equipment. Back then we did lots of stuff on the cheap, partly because we didn’t have much money, but also partly because of Board members’ sense that as guardians of member capital, they wanted to be sure we got best bang for the buck when spending member money. This was also the era when one of the benefits Weavers Way offered to members was lower prices, especially in produce, bulk, bakery and natural foods. Operating, admin and capital expenditures were in general kept low, Board members frequently challenged management spending and made me justify everything.

What’s interesting about Bob and the Board back then was how cheap they could be about some things while at the same time being generous about others, especially staff compensation. We paid hourly staff much more than was typical for supermarkets and other retailers. And, in some ways most astoundingly, we offered full health insurance coverage to employees who worked over 25 hours a week. This was unheard of at the time, but it reflected Bob’s and our Board’s (and the Co-op’s) values and priorities, which included paying a living wage and health insurance being a right, not a fringe benefit. Policies like this resulted in a very stable staff, a few of whom are still at the Co-op today.

Bob wasn’t the only outspoken Board member in those days: We also had Mort Brooks, Vince Pieri, Maggie Heineman and Fred Novin, all of whom often agreed on basic principles but sometimes disagreed on how best to implement them. Board meetings could be contentious and raised voices were not uncommon. On Tuesday, Bob and Mort would scream at each other at a Board meeting and on Friday, they would be at one of their houses eating dinner together. This was well before Policy Governance or any Board trainings in process or governance.

I don’t remember how long Bob served on the Board, probably 15 years or more. Like many Board members of that era, he would change hats to continue serving despite term limits. I think Bob served as Treasurer, Management Advisory Committee Chair, at-large, and maybe even did a stint as Secretary. During this period Bob was also Treasurer of East Mt. Airy Neighbors. This kind of overlapping community involvement was typical. Mt. Airy was and remains a very involved community.

When Bob retired in 1999, he moved to Martha’s Vineyard, where his wife, Connie, was from. It wasn’t long before he was serving on the wastewater commission.

Current members may not be aware of the history of Weavers Way and its Board. With a 44-year-old Board-governed organization, there are hundreds of ex-Board members, and all have a story. Bob being one of the early ones, his contributions helped set things up for the Co-op to succeed for decades, so Weavers Way is one of the ways Bob’s spirit lives on.