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NEW YORK - When Fred Canning retired as president and COO of Waigreens, one overriding question arose among many people both inside and outside the company: Was anyone big enough to fill the shoes of this legendary retail leader? It's a measure of Canning's impact on drug store retailing, and a credit to his successor Dan Jorndt, that he was up to the job.
Canning, the architect of Walgreens' turnaround in the 1970s and 1980s, died peace- fully at Lake Forest Hospital in Illinois June 28 of complications from cancer. He was 85.
In a little over three decades, Canning rose from stock clerk, making 49 cents an hour, to top manager of the company under chairman and CEO Charles R. Walgreen ffl. He was part of a century-long line of highly skilled and charismatic executives who ran day-to-day operations at the nation's premier drug chain. But Canning ranks at or near the top of that line for leading Walgreens through a top-to-bottom turnaround at the company and guiding it to a preeminent position as the nation's premier drug store retailer.
Canning was the...