Purdy-Kresge Library with a five and ten cent store that opened in 1899 in Downtown Detroit and now there are thousands of K-mart stores in the U.S. and in other countries. Also being a successful business man Kresge was a philanthropist. When The Kresge Foundation was founded in 1924, he thought his gains would be able to better mankind. The Kresge Foundation has donated millions of dollars to many colleges and organizations but the foundation is also known as a “bricks and mortar” foundation because it helped institutions and non-profit organizations. In 1949, the trustees of The Kresge Foundation offered Wayne State
Charles T. Kresge and the Thomas Alva Edison Award in 2008. He was also honored by election to the US National Academy of Engineering (2007). In 2011, he was Honorary Chair of the 22nd North American Catalysis Society meeting in Detroit, Michigan. Charles T. Kresge Charles T. Kresge is a chemist and retired Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Saudi Aramco. He was R&D Vice President at the Dow Chemical Company. His area of expertise is inorganic synthesis and his primary field of research is in the area of crystalline aluminosilicate materials, particularly for the discovery of mesoporous molecular sieves. Kresge received his bachelor's