Bernauer recognized for life's work.(Lifetime Achievement Award)

DEERFIELD, Ill. -- During the first years of the 21st century, Walgreen Co. has epitomized the best the chain drug industry has to offer, finding new ways to meet the pharmacy and front-end needs of increasingly time-pressed consumers, while greatly expanding the scope of its operations and maintaining an unbroken string of record annual sales and earnings that extends back more than three decades.

The chief architect of Walgreens' success throughout those years was Dave Bernauer, who retired from the company after a 41-year career that, in 2002, saw him become only the second chief executive officer from outside the Walgreen family. The ability of Bernauer, who assumed the duties of chairman a year later, to preserve the fundamentals of the philosophy that has guided the company since its founding in 1901 and adapt them to the exigencies of a rapidly changing marketplace ensured the drug chain's preeminent place in its trade class and spurred its ascension into the elite group of retailers that generate more than $50 billion a year in sales. In recognition of the impact Bernauer had on Walgreens and his ongoing contributions to community pharmacy, the editors of Chain Drug …