Charles R. Walgreen Jr., 100; led family drugstore chain to huge growth

Charles R. Walgreen Jr., 100, the son of the founder of the drugstore chain who served as the company’s president in a time of huge growth, died Saturday at his home in Northfield, Ill., a company spokesman said.

Trained as a pharmacist, Walgreen served as the company’s president from the time of his father’s death in 1939 until 1963. He was chairman from 1963 to 1976. During his tenure, the firm’s annual sales grew from $7 million to $817 million.

Walgreen is credited with changing the retail drug business in the 1950s when he converted stores from clerk-assisted shopping to self-service. He also helped improve the working conditions of pharmacists, reducing their weekly hours from about 66 in 1939 to a standard 40.

Born in Chicago, Walgreen grew up in the family business. As a boy, he made deliveries to his father’s second store on the city’s South Side. He graduated from the College of Pharmacy at the University of Michigan. In retirement, he obtained an ocean captain’s license and sailed the world on his yacht, but he kept an office at the company’s headquarters into his 90s.