Justin Whitlock Dart Sr. (August 17, 1907 – January 26, 1984) was an American businessman, considered the "boy wonder" of the

drug store A pharmacy (also called "drugstore" in American English or "community pharmacy" or "chemist" in Commonwealth English, or rarely, apothecary) is a retail shop which provides pharmaceutical drugs, among other products. At the pharmacy, a pharmacis ...

industry. In college Dart had played football for

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

Biography

He was born on August 17, 1907. After marrying Ruth Walgreen, Dart became an executive with his father-in-law's (

Charles Walgreen Charles Rudolph Walgreen Sr. (October 9, 1873 – December 11, 1939) was an American businessman who founded Walgreens. Background He was born in Dixon, Illinois, before moving to Galesburg, Illinois, at a young age. He was the son of Swedish ...

) company, the

Walgreens Walgreen Company, d/b/a Walgreens, is an American company that operates the second-largest pharmacy store chain in the United States behind CVS Health. It specializes in filling prescriptions, health and wellness products, health information, an ...

Drugstore chain. At Walgreens, he introduced the concept of placing the pharmacy counter at the back of the drug store, which not only provided privacy for medical concerns, but forced patrons to walk past many items for possible purchase. Dart divorced his first wife, Ruth Walgreen, and left the Walgreen company shortly after. In 1943, Dart took control of the

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

-based United Drug Company. The chain operated under the Liggett, Owl, Sonta, and

Rexall Rexall was a chain of American drugstores, and the name of their store-branded products. The stores, having roots in the federation of United Drug Stores starting in 1903, licensed the Rexall brand name to as many as 12,000 drug stores across th ...

brands. Soon, Dart rebranded the stores under the Rexall name. After 35 years, Dart sold his stake in Rexall in 1978. Not long afterwards, he said "I would like my retirement and death to be simultaneous." During these years, Dart had acquired stakes in Avon,

West Bend Housewares West Bend Housewares, LLC, based in West Bend, Wisconsin, produces household appliances such as breadmakers, mixers, coffee urns, slow cookers and woks. The West Bend Company, founded in 1911, was owned by Regal Ware Inc. but was sold to Ver ...

Duracell Duracell Inc. is an American manufacturer of alkaline batteries, specialty cells, rechargeables and smart power systems, owned by Berkshire Hathaway. The company has its origins in the 1920s, through the work of Samuel Ruben and Philip Mallory, ...

, Ralph Wilson Plastics, Archer Glass and

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

, which were collectively known as Dart Industries. In 1980, Dart sold his company to Kraft Industries. Although Dart Industries never owned Avon, it was the former parent company to Tupperware Home Parties. Dart Industries eventually merged with

Kraft Foods The second incarnation of Kraft Foods is an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. in 2012 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz in 2015. A merger with Heinz, arra ...

Death

Dart died from

congestive heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...

in 1984, aged 76.

Presidential Medal of Freedom

Dart received the

Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, along with the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by the president of the United States to recognize people who have made "an especially merito ...

posthumously in 1987."Recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, 1981-1989"
''Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum'' Retrieved on 2018-03-13

Family

Dart and his second wife, former actress

Jane Bryan Jane Bryan (born Jane O'Brien, June 11, 1918 – April 8, 2009) was an American actress groomed by Warner Bros. to become one of its leading ladies but she chose to retire from acting in 1940 at age 22, after which she became a philanthropist an ...

(1918–2009), were married on

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...

in 1939, and remained married until his death in 1984. The couple had three children. Dart and Bryan were staunch Republicans and helped convince their close friend, former California Governor

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

, to run for the presidency of the United States in 1980. His son by his first marriage, Justin Whitlock Dart Jr. was an advocate for the disabled. In 1989, Dart Jr. was appointed by President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

to the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities. Dart Jr. also helped pass the

Americans with Disabilities Act The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ...

of 1990; he died in 2002 of complications related to polio.

Note

Despite being in the drugstore industry, Justin Dart had no known connections to

Dart Drug Dart Drug is a now-defunct chain of discount drug stores in the metropolitan Washington, DC region. It was founded in 1955, by Herbert Haft and his wife Gloria in Adams Morgan. The chain expanded to over 100 stores, and became a vehicle (as Dart ...

, founded by

Herbert Haft Herbert H. Haft (August 24, 1920 – September 1, 2004) was an American businessman who was famous first for the development of discount stores in the drug store, bookstore, and auto part businesses in Washington, D.C., and later as a corpor ...

Sources

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dart, Justin Whitlock 1907 births 1984 deaths American businesspeople in retailing American football guards Northwestern Wildcats football players Sportspeople from Evanston, Illinois 20th-century American businesspeople Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients Illinois Republicans