ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, October 9, 1996 TAG: 9610090062
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
MEMO: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.
Robert W. Mincer, whose Mincer's store has been a favorite hangout of University of Virginia students since the 1950s, died Monday at age 89.
Mincer came to Virginia in 1948 from New York City, where he managed a pipe factory. His store, originally called Mincer's Humidor, later became Mincer's Pipe Shop and then simply Mincer's.
Mincer used to keep an old cigar box he called ``the lettuce box'' on the counter where students who were short of cash could borrow a few dollars.
The store stopped selling tobacco products in 1993. ``We felt we had to change with the times. The store gravitated from being a mom-and-pop pipe shop to being a college store,'' said Mincer's son, Robert H. Mincer.
Mincer is survived by his son and daughter, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. A funeral will be held Thursday at University Baptist Church.
- Associated Press
LENGTH: Short : 29 linesby CNB