Jack Eckerd was both demanding and kind, frugal and generous. Above all, he inspired the people who worked for him. The Lucky 13 remain among his true believers - their own fortunes grew as dramatically as the company's.
They were employees of the Jack Eckerd Corp. who became eligible to cash in stock options that company president Jack Eckerd offered 10 years earlier. A story about them appeared in the St. Petersburg Times on Feb. 21, 1971.
The Lucky 13 were just a handful of the people who bought the stock options, then saw Eckerd's small company detonate from fewer than 10 stores to more than 200. The stock split four times.
It was a program that made one-time stock boys and druggists wealthy. And more than that, it fastened employees' loyalty squarely to Eckerd and his company.
"There were many managers and pharmacists who were millionaires in a short time," one of the Lucky 13, Robert N. Becker, told the St. Petersburg Times last week. "You couldn't help but work hard for the man because of his generosity."
Wilbur "Jack" Jesmer, another Lucky 13 member, said it was incredibly exciting to watch the company expand while knowing that employees were so attached to its success.
"It was just continuous, rapid growth," Jesmer said. "That kept people there, too. That was like indentured. No matter what happened, you didn't leave for a higher salary, not if you looked ahead."
Both men were disappointed to learn last week that Eckerd will be sold to a pair of companies. The company buying the Florida stores plans to covert them to CVS or to close them. In effect, the Eckerd name - once the most dominant name in the Florida drugstore industry - will vanish from the state for good.
Jack Eckerd, now 90, was hobbled by a serious stroke several years ago. Last week, his wife, Ruth, said the couple, who have not been involved in the company since 1986, accepted the move with mixed feelings.
"The Eckerd stores were so much a part of our lives, so much blood, sweat and tears from so many loyal people went into them, I'm really sad to have this era pass," she said.
Both Becker and Jesmer, who each left the company with hundreds of thousands of dollars in stock option money, reflected on what went right years ago, what went wrong years later and what it means to lose a Florida icon.
Extraordinary efforts
"Give a man a chance to earn extraordinary rewards," Jack Eckerd was quoted as saying in the 1971 story about the Lucky 13, "and you'll see extraordinary efforts. That's why we believe in giving our people a piece of the action. This is one of the reasons why Jack Eckerd Corp. has enjoyed such rapid and substantial growth."
Becker and Jesmer say their former boss was speaking the truth.
Jesmer worked for the company about 10 years before he left to pursue other interests. After cashing in his stock options, he took with him close to a quarter-million dollars for his efforts.
"To me, this was very euphoric," he said.
Jack Eckerd hired Jesmer in 1961 to start a printing department. Though Eckerd had fewer than 20 stores at the time, he was expanding and wanted to print ads, window banners and office supplies in-house.
The printing department began modestly with just Jesmer and an elderly man who worked part-time. Printing orders came in at a frenzy as the company grew, and by the time Jesmer left in 1971 he had about 10 employees with him in the print shop.
In that time, the number of stores also had swelled to about 225.
"In the 10-year period, there was just tremendous growth," Jesmer recalled. "It was pretty exciting. It was fun."
However, the work was hard, often spurred on by the demanding Jack Eckerd: "All of it meant more work. I became very tired after nine or 10 years."
Jesmer said Jack Eckerd was a boss for whom people did not mind working hard. Employees admired him and he led by example, often coming in on Saturdays and working from his office at home.
"He worked continuously," Jesmer said. "He had very high standards and he was very hard working. He worked as hard as anyone."
When Jesmer left the company, he was about 40 years old. He used the stock option money to buy a house and a couple of cars. He put some into savings.
Jesmer continued to work in advertising and printing before retiring in 1993. He is now 73 and lives in Tampa.
He does not shop at Eckerd. These days, he prefers Walgreens or CVS.
"It's just not the same place I worked," he said. "It's uncomfortable to go in and see the store now compared to what it was. Everything is cluttered and they sell beer and wine and so forth, and he would never have that in his stores."
Jesmer say he also looks at the Eckerd ads and disapproves.
"There's so much jumbled colors you can't even read them," he said. "The prices now are not as cheap as they were."
Still, Jesmer said it will be odd to see the Eckerd name gone from storefronts.
"It's truly the passing of an era," he said. "It's a time in your life that's completely gone, except whatever you remember.
"Because you won't see the name anymore."
Tough and generous
Robert Becker was hired in 1963 to lay out and write copy for the Eckerd ads. He worked closely for some time with Jesmer.
Becker would stay quite a bit longer. He was with the drugstore chain 22 years, ascending in 1981 to vice president of advertising.
In the early days, Becker's office was on the other side of the wall from Jack Eckerd's.
"He was tough to work for, but very fair and generous," Becker said of his former boss. "He would give you a job and he would expect you to do it without a lot of attaboys. But if you didn't do it right - and these were his words - "watch out.' "
Eckerd had a hawk's eye for expenses, Becker says. He remembers one of Eckerd's higher-ups bringing home washtubs full of invoices to analyze where all the money was going.
"It was a real tightly controlled company," Becker said.
Eckerd also had soft spots. He went to his stores and greeted employees around the holidays. He threw a big bash on the Fourth of July. Even when the number of employees reached into the hundreds, he still sent birthday cards he signed himself.
"I figured he would have to spend every waking moment to do that, but he did," Becker said.
Becker said it was wonderful working for a store that was so popular with consumers. He remembers police officers having to direct traffic for store grand openings. Parking lots overflowed.
One evening in the 1960s comes to mind. He was watching a local television news report about tornadoes that had torn through the Tampa Bay area, and a woman who had been hurt in the storm was interviewed as she was led to the hospital.
Her home was destroyed, and Becker remembers the woman asking, "What about my Eckerd store?"
Becker thinks the company lost some of its momentum when Jack Eckerd drifted out of the day-to-day business in the mid 70s. When Eckerd later diversified by buying a home video company, Becker thought the company was headed in the wrong direction. He was right.
He left in 1985 for a lower-paying job in Oklahoma. Over the years, he had cashed in a couple of hundred thousand dollars in stock options.
Even after Becker left, Jack Eckerd helped his family through a rough time. After Becker's daughter was seriously injured in a car accident and racked up about $1-million in medical expenses, Eckerd helped his old employee with kind words and a gift.
"He's just a good man," Becker said.
Becker said he still shops at Eckerd, but won't hesitate to go somewhere else with lower prices.
"It's just not the same as when he was there," Becker said. "Something about the personality of the store. It's cold. Those stores were so well-loved, it's hard to believe people will go to CVS and Walgreens. It had such an attraction and such a following.
"I have the greatest respect for Mr. Eckerd and I just hate this whole thing because he would work so hard and so many people worked so hard and now the name is going to disappear.
