" Despite Kirk's tactics, Eckerd said " time heals all wounds, and now I chuckle about it.

Eckerd, who would be his party's U. S. Senate nominee in 1974, having lost to Richard Stone, and the gubernatorial standard-bearer in 1978, defeated by Bob Graham, said that though he had supported Kirk in 1966, he became disappointed and embarrassed with Kirk: " I was offended by his public behavior and chagrined that he was a Republican.

" Despite Kirk's tactics, Eckerd said " time heals all wounds, and now I chuckle about it.

Before its dissolution, Eckerd Corporation had its headquarters in Warwick.

The sale erased the chain's name among its 622 Florida stores, where it had been synonymous with the pharmacy business since Jack Eckerd bought three old drugstores in the Tampa Bay area in 1952.

At the height of Eckerd's success, it had over 2, 800 stores in more than 20 states, including 1, 600 stores with Eckerd Express Photo one-hour photo labs in 19 states, and revenue of $ 13. 1 billion in fiscal year 2000.

In turn, JCPenney Catalog Centers, like Thrift Drug long had, were added to Eckerd stores.

JCPenney, which had seen its seven-year ownership of Eckerd as a distraction that would cost too much to continue fixing, in March 2004 formally declared that it would carry Eckerd on its books as a discontinued asset.

While CVS had 696 stores in Florida before closing any duplicates with Eckerd, Walgreens had 613 stores and plans for 748 within three years.

CVS Corporation ( now CVS Caremark Corporation ) bought more than 1, 200 Eckerd stores and converted most of them to CVS / pharmacy in late 2004 and 2005, eliminating the Eckerd name from markets such as Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Mississippi, which had once been among the chain's strongholds.

In 1971, Jack Eckerd donated $ 12. 5 million to the college, the largest single gift it had received to that date.

By 1983, Forbes and his company had found investors such as Reader ’ s Digest and Eckerd Drugs but had lost nearly $ 14 million.

In 1970, Eckerd entered the Republican gubernatorial primary to challenge incumbent Governor Claude R. Kirk, Jr. A third candidate, State Senator L. A.

Eckerd warned that the renomination of Kirk would produce a Republican fiasco in the fall campaign.

Kirk received 172, 888 primary ballots, but Bafalis's 48, 378 votes were sufficient to require a runoff with Eckerd, who received 137, 731.

Kirk claimed that Cramer assisted Eckerd, whom Kirk assailed as " notorious for his ability to change the scope of the truth.

" In the campaign rhetoric, Kirk denounced Eckerd for having previously contributed to Democratic candidates, for allegedly running down a Cuban fisherman in a yacht race, and for spending lavishly from his personal fortune in the 1970 primary campaign. Though he defeated Eckerd, Kirk was then unseated, 57-43 percent, by the Democrat Reubin Askew, a state senator from Pensacola.

In 1970, Kirk struggled through two Republican gubernatorial primaries against drugstore magnate Jack Eckerd of Clearwater and state Senator and later U. S. Representative L. A.

After he dispatched Eckerd, Kirk then lost 57-43 percent to the Democrat Reubin O ' Donovan Askew, a state senator from Pensacola, who served two consecutive terms in the office.

Miami developer Leonard Ratner purchased land which became the site of Eckerd College.

Stores in ten states from Florida west to Arizona became CVS ; the stores from Georgia north to New York continued as Eckerd Corporation, run by Jean Coutu's US arm along with its New England-based Brooks chain.

In July 2007 Coutu's 1, 549 Eckerd stores across the Mid-Atlantic and New England became part of the Rite Aid drugstore chain, finally ending more than a century of the Eckerd name in drug retailing.

With the millions he made, Eckerd became a philanthropist.

The remaining Eckerd locations became Rite Aids.

In a primary endorsement, the Miami Herald depicted Eckerd as " an efficient campaigner with the ability to bring people together constructively.

The conservative vote was divided that year with Dr. John Grady, nominee of George C. Wallace's former American Independent Party siphoning votes from Eckerd.

The Eckerd organization's success with outdoor therapeutic programming soon expanded beyond Florida to several states.

In 1987, Jack wrote his autobiography with Paul Conn, Eckerd: Finding the Right Prescription.

Eckerd was owned by JCPenney from 1997 to 2004, and was one of the largest drug store chains in the U. S., with over 2, 800 stores stretching from New York and Connecticut to Florida and west to Arizona.

Penney paid $ 3. 3-billion and assumed $ 1-billion in debt to acquire Eckerd and combine it with its 800-store Thrift Drug chain.

The other Eckerd stores that were sold to the Jean Coutu Group were merged with Coutu's other American pharmacy chain, Brooks Pharmacy.

Brooks Eckerd Pharmacy was created when Jean Coutu purchased Eckerd from its parent J. C. Penney and merged it with Brooks Pharmacy, Jean Coutu's other pharmacy.

The merger was signed and completed as of June 4, 2007, with all remaining Eckerd stores converted to Rite Aid by the end of September 2007.

For example, Eckerd College originated the 4-1-4 academic calendar, with the " 1 " representing the Winter Term during the month of January, in which each student concentrates on a single class.

Opportunities for study-abroad are available at Eckerd College, with students having traveled to all seven continents for academic work.

Since 1980, Eckerd College has also been the home of the Leadership Development Institute that provides managers and executives with the time, tools, and setting needed to explore and strengthen their leadership skills.

The Eckerd College Men's Lacrosse Team finished the 2006 season ranked # 3 in the National Collegiate Club Lacrosse Poll, with a 13-1 record.

Eckerd College has eleven dormitory complexes, each with a name from the Greek alphabet.

Sabean attended Concord High School and Eckerd College ( of St. Petersburg, Florida ), playing with former major leaguer Joe Lefebvre on both school's baseball teams.

By the late 1950s, Rexall's business model of unitary franchised stores, with each store owned independently by the local pharmacist, was already coming under attack by the discount chains, such as Thrifty Drug and Eckerd.

That run was very solid, and it earned Lewis a mid-season ride with the # 89 Eckerd Chevy.