Robert Craves dead; founding officer of Costco was 72

Robert Craves, a founding officer of wholesale giant Costco and, later, a nonprofit devoted to helping more students attend college, died Wednesday after being diagnosed with cancer a month earlier.

He was 72.

Family and friends described Craves as a larger-than-life entrepreneur unafraid of tackling big ideas and as a family man with a self-deprecating sense of humor.

After helping build Costco, Craves co-founded the College Success Foundation, a nonprofit that provides mentors and scholarships to low-income and first-generation college students.

Craves was born in Bay City, Michigan, in 1942, the eldest of five children. At age 13 he left home to join a seminary, intending to become a Catholic priest, but later decided to pursue a career in business.

He earned an undergraduate degree in philosophy and a master's in international studies from Catholic University in Washington, D.C.

After college he moved to San Francisco to work in hardware stores, where a mutual friend introduced him to his wife, Gerri, whom he married on April 28, 1973.

Craves helped start Costco after working with Jim Sinegal, another Costco founder and former chief executive, at a home-improvement business in California. Sinegal hired Craves as a merchandise manager at that company in the late 1970s.

Craves moved to Seattle around the time Costco opened its first warehouse in 1983.

Like the other Costco founders, Craves wore many hats at the young company -- working in everything from human resources to membership services.

"He could always find the good thing in every situation," Sinegal said. "Most people couldn't."

After he retired from Costco, Craves co-founded the College Success Foundation in 2000 with Ann Ramsay-Jenkins, whom he met while they both were on a higher-education board appointed by Washington Gov. Gary Locke.

Craves retired as chief executive of the foundation a year ago but remained a member of the board.

Aside from his wife, Craves is survived by his daughter, Stacie, of Seattle; sisters Teri Renz, of Napa, California, and Mary Holland, of Des Moines; and brother Jim Craves, of Portland, Maine.