GRAY

Posted by Cathy Gowdy on Tuesday, August 01, 2006 at 06:05:22 :

Independent Journal
Thursday, August 11, 1977
Page 4

Novato man found dead

Robert Trener Gray, 68, former manager of Payless Drug Store in San Rafael, was found dead at his Novato home yesterday, victim of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Gray was discovered in a storage shed behind his home at 9:45 a.m. by a maid. A rifle was lying next to him, according to the coroner’s office. No note was found.

Gray and a partner opened a Payless Drug next to the Rafael Theater in 1947. He sold the store in 1973 after it had moved to the Northgate Shopping Center.

Gray began his career at a wholesale drug firm in Salt Lake City. Later a clerk and then a general manager for the Sontag Drug Co., he afterwards served as operations manager for three Skaggs Drug Co. stores, including the one in San Rafael.

Survivors include his wife, Helen, owner of the Modern Eve dress shop in Northgate.

Funeral arrangements are pending at Williams and Heffernan Mortuary.