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| Charles R. "Cork" Walgreen III |
Posted: Thursday, 26 November 2009 10:17AM
Last Walgreen retires from drugstore giant's board
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CHICAGO (STNG) -- The last member of the founding Walgreen family to serve on the company's board, Charles R. "Cork" Walgreen III, is retiring from the post, along with two other board members.
Walgreen, 74, grandson of the Deerfield-based drugstore company's founder, Charles R. Walgreen Sr., will step down Jan. 13 after serving on the board for 46 years. Long-standing directors Cordell Reed, 71, and Marilou M. von Ferstel, 71, also will retire from the 12-member board then, the company announced Wednesday.
Charles Walgreen started working for the company as a stock clerk in 1952, earned a pharmacy degree from the University of Michigan in 1958 and held positions including pharmacist, district manager, regional manager and vice president. He joined the board in 1963 and was named chief executive officer in 1971 and chairman in 1976.
At the helm in the 1970s, Walgreen brought the company back to its pharmacy roots, the company said. He made the decision to divest the company's free-standing restaurants, among other non-core businesses, and led the change in the 1990s to pull stores out of shopping centers and into convenient corner locations that Walgreens is known for today.
Walgreen retired as CEO in 1998 after 23 consecutive years of record growth, six stock splits and an increase in the drugstore chain's market capitalization from $164 million to $19 billion under his leadership.
A Walgreen spokesman said the company had added a few extra board members in recent years in anticipation of retirements.
Reed has served on Walgreen's board of directors since 1994. He retired as a senior vice president of Commonwealth Edison Co. in 1997 after 37 years with the company. Reed was the third African American to earn a graduate degree in engineering from the University of Illinois in Champaign.
Von Ferstel was elected a member of the Walgreen board in 1987. She retired as executive vice president and general manager of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide in 1997. Von Ferstel was the first woman elected to the Chicago City Council.
"We're in a terrific position to keep growing our business," said Charles Walgreen. "I leave with great confidence in the future of our company. It's an exciting time to be Walgreens."
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