Chief Executive Of Giant Food Dies

Israel Cohen, the chief executive officer of Giant Food Inc. and chairman of its board of directors, has died at the age of 83, company officials said Thursday.

Cohen, credited with the expansion of Giant from one store in 1936 to 164 now, died Wednesday at his Washington home of complications associated with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a spokesman said.

Giant Food now operates supermarkets in Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey and the District of Columbia. The company had sales of $3.8 billion last year.