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"The toughest decision I ever made was to walk away from the life I had built to save the company my father founded in 1952," said Fruth Pharmacy President and Chairman of the Board Lynne Fruth.
In 2009, Fruth Pharmacy, the business Jack E. Fruth started with its headquarters in Point Pleasant, faced the possibility of closing its 20 locations in West Virginia and Ohio.
Lynne Fruth, the youngest of five siblings who had distinguished herself as an educator, said she came to the realization that the business was an invaluable resource for her family and the families of its 700 employees, many of whom she'd known her entire life. That became her driving force - a challenge she approached "with faith that, through sheer grit," she could save the business.
As a woman, Fruth feels her "heartfelt compassion" toward others was her ultimate motivation.
"I kept thinking these people wouldn't have as good a job in Mason County, so at the beginning of each day, Susie Cassell, our treasurer, and I would have...