Kenneth M. White (1923-2020) was an industrial designer who formed his own design firm in 1947 called Ken White Associates, Inc., which developed plans and designs for thousands of independent and academic bookstores throughout the United States, as well as many other types of retail businesses. The company also played a leading role in introducing convenience stores and innovative dining options to college campuses.

Ken White was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1923 to Teresa Willis White (1902-1998) and Frances Edward White Jr. (1899-1968). After high school, White attended the University of Alabama. White’s career focus was marine engineering, primarily ship design and repair. He was able to take work-study classes and began working at a shipyard as a “helper.” White later returned to New York, where he received a job working for Bethlehem Steel as a mechanic during World War II. He married Adele Nowak (1924-2016) in 1942, leased an apartment in New York, and started a family.

In 1943, White was drafted into the Army despite having a deferment to work at Bethlehem Steel. He was sent to the Navy and assigned to work on New York Harbor ships, installing machines and other equipment. After a few months, White was medically discharged due to previously undetected health issues.

After he was discharged, White found work in design drafting positions for various stores, including Lerner Shops. In 1945, Raymond Loewy Associates hired him as a store design planner. In 1947, White opened his first office in the prestigious location of 516 Fifth Avenue in New York City, calling his firm Ken White Associates. His new office was located between Loewy’s offices and the New York Public Library. Soon after he opened his first office, he took the advice of colleagues in the field and set up a booth at the first Store Modernization Show, held in New York in 1947.

White formed a partnership in 1974 called The Collaborative Consultants. Through this partnership, White began an ambitious expansion program of KWA, Inc., which was considered the corporate, or umbrella, organization. White opened additional offices in Washington, D.C.; Palo Alto, California; Atlanta, Georgia; New York, New York; and Chicago, Illinois, each office having its own specialized market. The partnership was fairly successful for a number of years, but White had closed most offices by 1979. During the 1980s, KWA, Inc. began designing bookstores and retail businesses in other countries, including Canada, Korea, Japan, and Brazil, among others, and in 1986 changed the corporate name to Ken White Associates, Inc. Design International.

In 1978, he opened a new purchasing company called The Idea Center, which purchased supplies in bulk for his various projects. One of his more successful ventures, The Idea Center, remained in business until the early 1990s.

In 1988, White again tried to expand his service offerings by selling Ken White Associates, Inc. to Retail Planning Associates, Inc. (RPA), a large retail consulting and design firm based in Columbus, Ohio. The new affiliation, headed by Ken White himself, was titled Ken White/RPA. The new business partnership lasted until 1990, when White decided to leave the affiliation and conduct business under the name of his former company, Ken White Associates, Inc.

During the 1980s, White’s son, Frank White, began to take on a larger role in the family business and eventually became his father’s most trusted business partner. Frank White eventually took over the business, becoming president and owner of the company in 1992. The company’s headquarters subsequently moved to his Ohio office. Ken White did not immediately retire. He continued to work with his son on several major projects around the country and only slowed down enough to retire in 2010. He and his wife moved to Ohio in 2014 to be near his son, and later, after Adele’s passing in 2016, White moved to Arizona to be near one of his other sons, Andrew, the pastor of a non-denominational church in Chandler, Arizona. Ken White died on May 3, 2020, at his home in Arizona.