PALM BEACH, Fla. — Costco Wholesale Corp. executive Charles Burnett and former Schering-Plough Consumer Health Care chairman Stanley Barshay received the chain drug industry’s highest honors last night at the 2010 National Association of Chain Drug Stores Annual Meeting.

Burnett, senior vice president of pharmacy at Costco, was presented the Sheldon W. Fantle Lifetime Achievement Award, and Barshay received the Robert B. Begley Award.

NACDS said Burnett, a pharmacy leader since the 1950s, has held several key positions in the industry and beyond pharmacy. From his service with FedMart and Save Mart Supermarkets to his years developing and expanding Costco Pharmacies, he has been a pharmacy pioneer. He was instrumental in opening the first Costco pharmacy in 1986 and overseeing the opening and operations of the nearly 500 other locations, according to the association.

Burnett is the only person to receive both the NACDS Harold W. Pratt Award as well as the Fantle Lifetime Achievement Award.

Established in 1989, the Lifetime Achievement Award was renamed in 1996 in honor of the late Sheldon "Bud" Fantle of People’s Drug Stores.

Barshay has been a pivotal figure in the consumer products industry since the mid-1970s, NACDS noted. From his work at American Home Products to his service as chairman of the consumer health products unit of Schering-Plough, he has been a leader of consumer home and health care products and the prescription-to-over-the-counter (Rx-to-OTC) product revolution.

The Begley Award, created in 1980, is named in memory of former NACDS chairman Robert B. Begley. It honors individuals who possess qualities of great personal warmth, generous spirit and long-time service to our industry.

Burnett and Barshay were recognized by their colleagues, friends and family at the NACDS Annual Meeting Dinner and Awards Ceremony.

"These two gentlemen are excellent examples of pharmacy’s growth and progress over the last 30 years," commented NACDS president and chief executive officer Steve Anderson. "Charles Burnett and Stan Barshay always will mean a tremendous amount to their companies and to this industry, and these awards commemorate their powerful legacies.

"NACDS is aggressive and proactive in telling the story of pharmacy as ‘the face of neighborhood health care.’ The contributions of these industry icons have done so much to help create that reality, for the benefit of patients and consumers," Anderson added.