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BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. — Jack Robinson, who was the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Perry Drug Stores, died earlier this month. He was 85.
Jack Robinson
Robinson founded Perry in 1957, when he opened his first store in Pontiac, Mich. Perry grew into the largest chain in Michigan and the 16th-largest nationwide, with 225 stores and annual sales of $750 million, before it was acquired by Rite Aid Corp. in 1995.
Over the course of Perry’s 38-year history, the company had operations in eight different states, including auto parts stores and health care businesses.
In early 1996, Robinson organized JAR Group LLC, specializing in retail and residential real estate development and management. He served as the chairman and CEO.
Robinson was a member of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores board of directors from 1980 to 1995, and he served as chairman for the 1987-88 term. In 1995, he won NACDS’ Sheldon W. Fantle Lifetime Achievement Award and Robert B. Begley Award, established in 1980 to honor “the individual who exemplifies the qualities of gentleness, humility and service to colleagues” as personified by Begley, a former NACDS chairman.
Ron Ziegler, then NACDS’ president and CEO, said at the time, “In addition to running one of the nation’s leading chain drug store companies, Jack Robinson has always been one of those people who lead our industry by word and deed.”
