George Washington Jenkins Jr. (September 29, 1907 – April 8, 1996) was an American businessman, who founded Publix Super Markets. As of 2016, the employee-owned, privately held corporation included 1,100 stores in the Southeastern United States with 170,000 employees and sales of $32 billion. Jenkins was known as "the state's largest commercial employer and head of a chain of stores that was a leader in introducing many innovations, including electric-eye doors and frozen food cases."