WALNUT CREEK, Calif. — Bob Long, who led Longs Drug Stores for more than 20 years, has died after a long illness. He was 75.

Long was a well-known industry veteran who was honored in 2003 with Chain Drug Review’s Ronald L. Ziegler Lifetime Achievement Award. The award recognized his highly successful expansion strategies and his ability to stay ahead of trends within the industry.

When he stepped down as chief executive officer in 2000, Long became the last family member to lead the drug chain that was founded by his father and uncle in 1938.

Long started with the drug chain in 1960 and spent the first decade of his career as a department manager and then store manager in one of the drug chain’s Hawaiian outlets.
Upon his return to California in 1970, Longs Drug Stores operated 46 outlets and had annual sales of $144 million.

By the time CVS Caremark Corp. acquired the company in August 2008, the regional drug chain had 521 stores in California, Hawaii, Nevada and Arizona. Longs also had a subsidiary, Rx America, which offered prescription benefits management services to more than 8 million members and prescription drug plan benefits to about 450,000 Medicare beneficiaries.

Long became president in 1975 and chief executive officer in 1977. Within eight years the retailer had grown to 191 stores in six states, and its nearly $1.4 billion in sales made it the industry’s sixth-largest chain.

Long became one of the first drug chain executives to insist that drug stores would have to expand their horizons if they were to remain viable. With Long at the helm, the chain became associated with a quality shopping experience for consumers in a variety of markets.

To differentiate from other chains, Longs allowed its store managers a great deal of autonomy over what items were carried. Speaking in 1988, Long said: “Our store managers can think for themselves. They literally customize their stores to the customers they serve.”

He attributed much of the company’s success to its ability to find good store managers. “I’m proud of and thankful to our people,” Long said. “Some of them go back three generations. I’m proud of the opportunities that we have been able to offer many of them, and the fact that they have been recognized as the best in our industry.”

Long stepped down as chairman in 2003 but continued to serve on the board until his retirement at age 68 in 2007.

Even after retiring, he continued to visit his company’s stores. “After all, that’s where the action is,” he said. “And it’s good to be able to get out and see all the great things our stores are doing.”

In paying respect to the company’s founders, he said: “My father, J.M. Long, was the entrepreneur, while my uncle, T.J. Long, was the administrator. They were demanding but demonstrated by their actions that treating others as we ourselves would like to be treated was the best way to succeed.”

He also said he could not have accomplished what he had without the support of his wife Eliane and their four children.

Speaking upon the announcement of Long’s 2007 retirement, then president Warren Bryant said: “Bob Long has played an instrumental role in the many milestones that Longs Drugs has achieved.

“We are all proud that we could open the 500th Longs Drugs and surpass $5 billion in sales before Bob announced his intentions to retire. The board of directors and employees of Longs Drugs extend our deepest appreciation and gratitude for what Bob has contributed to the company his father and uncle founded nearly 70 years ago.”