Inyathelo notes with sadness the passing of retail entrepreneur and philanthropist, the late Raymond Ackerman, who with his wife Wendy made a vital contribution to business and philanthropy in South Africa. The couple founded Pick n Pay in 1967 and grew an enterprise with more than 2 000 stores across South Africa and other African countries.

Photo: Raymond and Wendy Ackerman and family members accept the Inyathelo Award for Family Philanthropy.

The Raymond Ackerman Foundation was one of Inyathelo’s awardees at the 2007 inaugural Inyathelo Philanthropy Awards, in the category of Family Philanthropy. The family established the Ackerman Family Educational Trust in the 1970s and the Raymond and Wendy Ackerman Pick n Pay Foundation in 1997. At the time the Foundation supported indigenous arts and crafts businesses with the potential to support communities to become self-sustaining. The Foundation also funded enterprises such as an organisation that developed wheelchairs suitable for rural terrain, and community-based non-profit organisations that focused on awareness and prevention of AIDS.

The Ackerman Family Foundation was also a Private Philanthropy Circle (PPC) member at Inyathelo from 2012, with this programme independently registering as The Independent Philanthropy Association of South Africa (IPASA) in 2015.

The Ackermans were members of the Global Philanthropists Circle, a network for leading philanthropic individuals and families to collaborate with and learn from their peers.

Mr Ackerman established the Raymond Ackerman Academy for Entrepreneurial Development in 2004, in partnership with UCT and later the University of Johannesburg. This organisation developed hundreds of new business owners. Mr Ackerman received seven honorary doctorates from local and international universities in recognition of his business acumen and philanthropic endeavours.