The Grand Valley State University community is mourning the passing of former Chairman Emeritus of Meijer, Inc., Frederik “Fred” G. H. Meijer, who died at age 91 late Friday night.

Meijer, a successful businessman and philanthropist, poured much of his time and resources into the city of Grand Rapids and the West Michigan community as a whole, making contributions that helped develop local medical institutions, educational facilities and nature preserves.

At GVSU, Meijer was the cardinal force in making construction possible for the Richard M. DeVos Center, the Holland Meijer Campus and the Cook-DeVos Center for Health Sciences – a contribution that was recognized by the university with the naming of the Meijer Family Floor.

As a member of the Advisory Cabinet for the Grand Valley University Foundation, Meijer was a supporter of the university since its early days a cluster college. He contributed monetary assistance in the creation of the Eberhard Center and the Meijer Public Broadcast Center, where WGVU broadcasts its public radio and television stations.

In October 2008, GVSU named the Honors College after Meijer in another effort to honor contributions he made to the university.

“The Frederik Meijer Honors College won’t be the same without Fred Meijer’s regular contact with our students, faculty and staff,” said Jeff Chamberlain, director of the Honors College, in a release from News and Information Services. “He was an incredible supporter of our programs and our students, but more than that, he was our friend. We will deeply miss him.”

The Meijer Foundation, most recently, made a monetary commitment to the construction of the new L. William Seidman Center on GVSU’s Pew Campus.

In June 2011, Meijer was recognized as one of the university’s Grand Stewards.

Meijer holds an honorary doctor of human letters degree from GVSU, awarded in 1982. A few years later, in 1986, Meijer was a Grand Valley State Hall of Fame honoree.

“As a university community we deeply regret the loss of Fred Meijer,” said president Thomas J. Haas in a news release Saturday from GVSU News and Information services. “Mr. Meijer’s generosity, from the beginning of Grand Valley’s history, has been critical to our success and has helped make us the university that we are today. Our hearts are with the Meijer family.”

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