Robert G. Tobin '60, retired in July 1998 as chairman of Stop & Shop Supermarkets. After graduating from Cornell, he began his career with Stop & Shop and worked for the same company until he retired—three different times! Tobin rose from a store trainee to become its president and CEO. He also retired as president and CEO of Ahold USA, Inc., and Interim CEO of U.S. Food Service.

For more than 40 years, Tobin has been widely regarded as a leader in the retail food industry. While at Stop & Shop, he was revered by his colleagues for his humility, wit, and ability to identify strengths and weaknesses in a company’s strategy by simply “walking the stores.” His peer CEOs in the industry routinely sought his advice—and seek it still—for his no-nonsense wisdom, uncommon ability to think like the customer, and deep commitment to the importance of ethical behavior. Under Tobin’s tenure on Stop & Shop’s executive team, the company grew from a modest family-run company in Boston to the market leader in New England.

Tobin’s leadership abilities were so admired that when he retired after nearly four decades of service, within days, the parent company, Royal Dutch Ahold, asked him to become CEO of their entire fleet of stores in the United States and to join its board of directors in the Netherlands. When, three years later Tobin retired for a second time, he was asked to come back to assist Royal Ahold when they were forced to deal with a major internal accounting fraud in one of the company’s divisions. Ahold needed someone to orchestrate a quick recovery and someone whose reputation for high ethical standards would be absolutely beyond question in the food industry and investment community. With little deliberation again, Tobin agreed to come back and put the company, to which he had already given so much, ahead of his own personal plans.

In 1999, the Food Marketing Institute awarded Tobin its highest distinction: the Sidney R. Rabb Award recognizing him as “an individual who demonstrates excellence in serving the consumer, the community, and the industry.” In 2001, he was named Officer in the Order of Orange Nassau —the highest Dutch Civilian Order of Merit given.

Tobin’s pride and commitment to Cornell are equally fierce. When in 1993, Cornell’s Food Industry Management Program decided to form its first industry advisory board, Professors Gene German and Ed McLaughlin knew that there was only one person to chair the effort. Not only did Tobin accept the assignment enthusiastically, he immediately wrote to 15 busy, senior food industry members to enlist their participation. All 15 agreed, and Tobin has chaired this highly successful advisory board, which meets twice a year, since its inception. It was this group that recommended the formation of the present Applied Economics and Management department-wide Undergraduate Business Program Advisory Council, a 50-person group of which Tobin is still a founding member. Typically, he has never missed one meeting.

Tobin was honored in 1997 as a Foremost Benefactor of Cornell; and with his wife, Audrey, has endowed the Robert G. Tobin Professor of Marketing in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Since 2004, he has served on the Dean’s Advisory Council. Tobin also has taught an Executive-in-Residence Seminar in the Department of Applied Economics and Management (AEM) for two years. The seminar focuses on marketing and operational strategies supermarket retailers employ to remain successful in today’s very competitive retailing world. In addition to these seminars, Tobin has accompanied AEM’s Food Marketing Fellows on a weeklong trip to Ireland. He is a lifetime member of the CALS Alumni Association.

Tobin also has played a prominent role doing community charitable work with the Jimmy Fund, a fundraising organization for kids with cancer. Through his leadership, Stop & Shop raised several million dollars for cancer research through the Jimmy Fund at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

Tobin continues to be one of the most influential leaders in the food industry and serve on many boards of companies both in and outside the industry. He served as chairman of the Worldwide Retail Exchange from 2001–2003 and was a board member of First Brands Corporation, Bompreco Supermarcados (Brazil), Centrica PLC, and Catalina Marketing Co. He currently serves on the advisory board for Schnuck Markets, Inc. He also has served on several nonprofit boards, including the Food Marketing Institute and Second Harvest National Food Bank Networks.

Tobin lives in Warren, Conn., with his wife, Audrey. They have two daughters, Tracy Lynn Tobin ’90 (A&S) and Kelly Tobin, and two grandchildren.