D.B. Reinhart*
Class of 1989
- Owner, Chairman, and CEO Gateway Foods, Inc.
Despite my success, I consider my greatest assets to be my family, my faith, and my community.
D. B. Reinhart was born in 1920 in Shell Lake, Wisconsin, where his parents ran a small hotel. After graduating from high school, Reinhart went to work for Hines Mercantile and Grocery. He also attended a teaching college because it was the only one he could afford.
During World War II, Reinhart served with the U.S. Army Air Corps as a meteorologist. When the war ended, he became a salesman with the Rice Lake Grocery Company. He was promoted to sales manager within a year. Reinhart helped the company build a group of independent retail grocers, Clover Farm Stores. In 1956, he purchased Gateway Foods with a partner. Gateway's annual sales volume increased to $10 million within one year.