Founder of Tom Thumb Grocery Store Chain, SMU Alum Dies

[MrMustang1965]

Charles Gillespie "Charlie" Cullum, the quiet catalyst in Dallas' business, civic, cultural and religious affairs, died Tuesday of complications from cancer at his Dallas home. He was 89.

He and his late older brother, Robert "Bob" Cullum, co-founded the Tom Thumb food stores. They built a billion-dollar business from five bankrupt Toro's grocery stores that the family took over to cover a $200,000 bad debt in 1948.

Mr. Cullum also served on the Dallas City Council, where he was instrumental in the appointment of the city's first black Dallas City Council member. He also served in a host of civic organizations, and he taught Sunday school throughout his adult life.

Intellectual and analytical, Mr. Cullum often teamed himself with extroverts: Bob Cullum; his late wife, Garland "Mac" Chapman Cullum; and Jack Evans, the late Tom Thumb executive and former Dallas mayor.

Mr. Cullum was known for his quiet manner.

"He learned early on that people who talk a lot don't get listened to," said Mary McDermott Cook, president of the Eugene McDermott Foundation.

"Every time Charles spoke, he was very well listened to."

Mr. Cullum had served on the McDermott Foundation's board of trustees for about 20 years, replacing business leader and former Dallas Mayor J. Erik Jonsson.

Mr. Cullum's institutional knowledge of Dallas was invaluable to any group he served, Ms. Cook said.

"His insight into the city was vast and had a long history," she said. "By having that history, he could compare where we are today to where we had come from."

Mr. Cullum's daughter, Dallas journalist Lee Cullum, said her father thrived on his interaction with the more outgoing people whom he encountered in business and civic circles.

"He needed that," she said. "He needed an extrovert with him to connect, and they needed him," she said.

Mr. Cullum served on the City Council from 1965 to 1969 and was deputy mayor from 1967 to 1969. He was former president and director of the Dallas Citizens Council and an honorary life director of Goals for Dallas.

In 1967, he persuaded his fellow council members to appoint an African-American, C.A. Galloway, to the council. When a heated, closed-door meeting on the appointment ended in an apparent rejection, Mr. Cullum made a deadlock-busting announcement. He said he was going to tell both of Dallas' daily newspapers that the tally was two votes in favor of the appointment – he and Mr. Jonsson – and seven against.

"Before we left the meeting, we had a unanimous decision," Mr. Cullum recalled in 1998. "And that's the way we got a black on the council."

Started as journalist
A third-generation Dallasite, Charles Cullum never intended to become a grocer. He grew up on the family farm on 20 acres at what is now the intersection of Cedar Springs and Inwood roads.

Mr. Cullum graduated from North Dallas High School, where he was a debater. In 1936, he received a journalism degree at Southern Methodist University, where he was editor of the student newspaper.

He later worked for $25 a week as assistant amusements editor at The Dallas Morning News for two years before becoming publicity director for the Adolphus hotel.

"He started out as nightclub editor for The Dallas Morning News ," Ms. Cullum said. "This was in the last days of the Depression. He had wonderful tickets to Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman and all the big bands. My mother, who was still at SMU, got to go to all these things, and she thought this was very glamorous, and I'm sure that's why she married him."

But in 1938, Mr. Cullum joined the family wholesale food business – as he liked to say, as a "cabbage salesman." He and his brother got up at 3 a.m. to select produce to resell to clients that included downtown hotels and restaurants, friends said.

During World War II, he served in the Pacific as a military news editor and financial officer in the Navy. He finished second in his class in officer candidate school at Harvard University.

Taking a chance
Bob Cullum once gave a public account of the birth of the Tom Thumb chain.

"The principal in that business went to South America and left the [Toro's] stores owing our company a lot of money," he said. "We were faced with the decision of taking a big beating or trying to keep the stores alive."

The brothers had learned the industry by working for their father, Ashley W. Cullum, in his wholesale grocery business. So they took a chance and "went into that broke retail setup," Bob Cullum said.

The small, debt-ridden chain was renamed Tom Thumb to symbolize the seemingly overwhelming battle they faced against the industry giants of the day, he said.

"This was a very exciting time in the food business because it was a transition," Charles Cullum said in 1996. "In the years immediately following World War II, when supplies and things became available, [there was] a transition from thousands and thousands of mom-and-pop stores to large supermarkets.

"By the end of the '60s, the whole thing had changed," he said.

Although the Tom Thumb chain grew quickly to become a force in the Dallas grocery wars, Cullum Companies had humble beginnings.

The business probably would not have survived without a loan from legendary Dallas Mayor R.L. Thornton, then a Dallas banker. Mr. Thornton approved enough money to get the business to healthier times, the brothers later recalled.

Even with the loan, Tom Thumb operated on a shoestring. Charles Cullum would design the chain's newspaper ads on the kitchen table, Ms. Cullum said. Her aunt, Eloise Cullum, was the accounting department. Bob Cullum designed the Tom Thumb logo and wrote the ad copy.

The brothers once went with police to Houston to track $30,000 worth of cigarettes that had been stolen from Tom Thumb.

"They took a very interested, hands-on approach because they were desperate," Ms. Cullum said. "They tracked down those blasted cigarettes in Houston and brought them back."

The company's grocery-store innovations included the in-store bakery.

"In 1952, we found a fine baker in Greenville, Texas, and hired him to open a bakery department in the store on Mockingbird, near the campus of Southern Methodist University," Mr. Cullum said in 1998. "It was very popular." (note: now the location of the Barnes & Noble/SMU Bookstore)

In 1956, Mr. Cullum introduced one-stop shopping by adding non-food items to store shelves. During the energy crisis of the early '70s, he recognized the potential of the superstore concept, a mammoth outlet open 24 hours a day.

"It seems simple now, but at the time it wasn't," his daughter said.

Charles Cullum was president of Cullum Companies from 1953 to 1976, chairman and chief executive officer from 1976 to 1984 and chairman of the executive committee from 1984 to 1988.

The Cullum Companies became a publicly traded company in 1969 but went private in a $500 million leveraged buyout in 1988. In July 1992, Randall's Food Markets Inc. of Houston purchased the company from the Cullum family and Morgan Stanley & Co. In 1999, Safeway Inc. acquired Tom Thumb as part of its $1.8 billion purchase of Randall's.

In 1994, the Cullum brothers were inducted into the Texas Business Hall of Fame.

Active volunteers
While the Cullum name is synonymous with Dallas retailing, the brothers also were active outside business. In 1966, they estimated that between them they held important posts – president, past president or board member – on at least 25 organizations. Each brother averaged five volunteer meetings a week in addition to business duties.

Charles Cullum was a former director of the State Fair of Texas. He also was former director of Methodist Hospitals of Dallas and a former trustee of Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas and Zale-Lipshy University Hospital, now part of UT Southwestern Medical Center.

His civic involvement included membership on the advisory board of the Salvation Army. He was former chairman of the Dallas County Mental Health and Mental Retardation Board.

Mr. Cullum taught a Sunday school class for more than 50 years at Oak Lawn United Methodist Church, which was founded by his family. He was former president of the Greater Dallas Community of Churches and former chairman of the National Conference of Christians and Jews. He was a president of the Better Business Bureau, the Northwood Club and the Salesmanship Club.

In 1981, he received the Linz Award for his community and humanitarian efforts. He received the J. Erik Jonsson Award in 1990 and the Community Services Award from the Dallas Historical Society in 1995.

A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Monday at Oak Lawn United Methodist Church. A graveside service for family members will be at Hillcrest Memorial Park before the church service.

Mrs. Cullum died in July 2005.

In addition to his daughter, Mr. Cullum is survived by his sister, Eloise Cullum of Dallas; one grandchild; and three great-grandchildren.

Memorials may be made to Oak Lawn United Methodist Church, 3014 Oak Lawn Ave., Dallas, Texas 75219; or the Episcopal School of Dallas, 4100 Merrill Road, Dallas, Texas 75229.

[smupony94]

My first job was as a sacker for Tom Thumb here in Westlake (Austin)

[CalallenStang]

My first job was as a sacker for Tom Thumb here in Westlake (Austin)

Is that the location that is now a Randall's? Nice store. Used to eat breakfast there everytime we went to eat in Austin.

I've been told there used to be a Tom Thumb in Corpus Christi, but the market was primarily held by Kroger and the then-hometown company HEB. Nowadays, not even Kroger and Albertson's have stores open, and the grocery business falls onto HEB and Wal-Mart Supercenters. In some areas, HEB is the only store around, allowing them to sell for whatever they please. Not good.

It sounds like Mr. Cullum lived a long, successful life. My prayers are with his family and friends as they attempt to move on.