Jack Eckerd
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Jack Eckerd (May 16, 1913 - May 19, 2004), was a major innovator in drugstore retailing, and a public servant, politician and philanthropist. Eckerd was born in Wilmington, Delaware, and graduated from Culver Military Academy and the Boeing School of Aeronautics. He was a pilot for the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, receiving three Air Medals and the Presidential Unit Citation.
Starting in the 1950s, he transformed his family's retail drugstore business into one of the leading self-service drugstore chains in the United States, Eckerd Drugs. His personal finances were estimated in 1975 by Forbes Magazine at $150 million.
Jack Eckerd's family includes 7 children -- 2 from a previous marriage, plus 3 adopted and 2 his own after his marriage to Ruth Eckerd (1922-July 18, 2006)[1]. There were 17 grandchildren, and, as of 2006, five great grandchildren. A businessman to the core, Eckerd always introduced himself as "Jack Eckerd—Clearwater, Florida". He died of pneumonia.
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[edit] Eckerd Drugs
The Eckerd chain, oldest of the major drugstore companies in the U.S., was founded by Jack's father, J. Milton Eckerd, in Erie, Pennsylvania in 1898. After serving as a pilot in World War II, Jack Eckerd started a phenomenal expansion of the chain by buying three stores in Florida in 1952. The company went public as Jack Eckerd Corp. in 1961 and when Eckerd sold his shares in 1986, there were about 1,500 stores.
The chain was later sold to J.C. Penney, who built the number of stores to 2,600 before selling to rivals CVS and Jean Coutu. Stores in ten states from Florida west to Arizona became CVS; the stores from Georgia north to New York continued as Eckerd Corporation, run by Jean Coutu's US arm along with its New England-based Brooks chain.
In July 2007 Coutu's 1,549 Eckerd stores across the Mid-Atlantic and New England became part of the Rite Aid drugstore chain, finally ending more than a century of the Eckerd name in drug retailing.
[edit] Public Service
In 1975 Eckerd was appointed administrator of the General Services Administration by President Gerald R. Ford. In the President’s words, “Jack ran GSA cleaner than a hound’s tooth.” Ford also named Eckerd to serve on the U.S.O. Board of Governors. President Ronald Reagan later named him to the Grace Commission’s private sector panel on government cost control. In 1981 Governor Bob Graham named Eckerd chairman of Florida's Prison Rehabilitative Industries & Diversified Enterprises, Inc. (PRIDE), a unique private sector board that operates all Florida Prison industries.
[edit] Political Campaigns
In the 1970s Eckerd attempted to enter politics as a Republican, running unsuccessful campaigns twice for the governorship of Florida (losing in 1978 general election to Democrat Bob Graham and in a 1970 primary to Claude Kirk, who ultimately lost to Democrat Reubin Askew). Eckerd ran for the U.S. Senate in 1974 (losing to Democrat Richard Stone).
[edit] Philanthropy
With the millions he made, Eckerd became a philanthropist.
- Ruth Eckerd Hall, a 2,100-seat regional performing arts venue for concerts, plays and civic events in Clearwater, Florida, was named for his wife Ruth Eckerd. It was designed by the Arizona-based Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and opened in 1983.
- Florida Presbyterian College in St. Petersburg, Florida, changed its name to Eckerd College in 1972 following a $12.5 million contribution from Jack, who also served for a time as its interim president.
- In 1968, Jack and Ruth founded Eckerd Youth Alternatives, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the needs of at-risk children and teenagers, conducted through outdoor therapeutic wilderness camps, community-based support programs, residential treatment, early intervention and prevention services. Sites are currently (2007) in nine states: Florida, Georgia, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, Louisiana, Vermont and Tennessee.
- National Foundation for Youth, a philanthropic organization begun in 1994 to support programs benefitting troubled young people, was later merged into the work of Eckerd Youth Alternatives.
[edit] Writing
In 1987, Jack wrote his autobiography with Paul Conn, Eckerd: Finding the Right Prescription. This was followed in 1990 by Enough is Enough, a booklet offering solutions to the nation’s severe prison overcrowding crisis. In 1991 he co-authored Why America Doesn’t Work with Charles Colson, analyzing the decline of the work ethic in America and offering solutions.
