Robert B. Hanna, 73, a N.J. grocer

In the late 2000s, Robert B. Hanna and Bill Lammey became the last winners of the legendary Merchantville Cup.

Legendary among the only four golfers who competed for it, a couple of times a year, by going out in a friendly foursome to lay claim to the honor that they had devised for themselves.

"It was only for the four guys," Kristin Abbe, Mr. Hanna's daughter, said. "More for the bragging rights."

Golf for fun. "That's the kind of guy my father was," she said.

On Saturday, Aug. 29, Mr. Hanna, 73, of Merchantville, owner of the Philadelphia Fruit Market there from 1982 until the late 2000s, died of pancreatic cancer at ManorCare Health Services in Sewell.

For the honor of holding the cup until the next round, Lammey, an architect, said he and Mr. Hanna competed as a team against lawyer Jim Madden and insurance executive Patrick Brennan.

"Bob had this idea that we would play for this cup that he found somewhere. I have no idea where," Lammey said. "A foot tall. Real cheap silver."

The competition began, he said, "around 15 years ago. The last time was eight years ago."

So, with matches three times a year at either Tavistock Country Club or Merchantville Country Club, the glory years didn't last long.

But what glory.

"Bob, when we won," Lammey said, "he would display the cup in his store, behind the meat counter."

Born in Camden, Mr. Hanna graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School there and attended business classes at what is now Rowan University, his daughter said.

In the late 1960s, he served in an Army ceremonial unit at Arlington (Va.) National Cemetery.

Mr. Hanna became a salesman for the H.A. McGinnis Co. in Blue Bell, which a trade publication rated at one time as the largest food brokerage in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Working in the aisles of supermarkets to make sure his products got proper display, his daughter said, "led him to want his own grocery store."

The Philadelphia Fruit Market was so named, she said, because "they had to go across to Philadelphia for all the fruits and vegetables."

Though a general grocery, she said, "it was an old-fashioned store known mostly as a butcher shop. And known for its produce."

After the store closed and Mr. Hanna retired in the late 2000s, it was sold, and it operates these days as McFarlan's Market.

Mr. Hanna was elected to Merchantville Borough Council and served for 15 years in the 1980s and 1990s. For a time as councilman, he was the director of public safety and a member of the planning board.

Besides his daughter, Mr. Hanna is survived by his wife of 47 years, Marie; son Patrick; a brother; a sister; and three grandchildren.

Visitations were set from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 4, and from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 5, both at the Falco Caruso & Leonard Funeral Home, 6600 N. Browning Rd., Pennsauken, before a 10 a.m. funeral at Trinity United Methodist Church, 36 W. Maple Ave., Merchantville, with interment in Locustwood Memorial Park, Cherry Hill.

Donations may be sent to Hearts United Against Cancer, Box 443, Sewell, N.J. 08080 or www.heartsunitedagainstcancer.org.

Condolences may be offered to the family at www.carusocare.com.

610-313-8134@WNaedele