Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd Jr and Charles R Walgreen

Mr. Walgreen Jr. worked his way through Walgreen Co. on the store opening crew, in the ice cream plant, and in personnel, sales, manufacturing, purchasing and real estate before becoming vice president in 1933, executive assistant to his father in 1935 and president shortly before the senior Walgreen’s death in 1939.

 

He enjoyed an active retirement, beginning in 1971 when he passed all the exams to earn an unlimited ocean captain’s license from the U.S. Coast Guard. He spent much of the next 18 years sailing the world on his yacht.

 

In 1995, at age 89, he traveled to Antarctica, where a 1,000-mile shoreline identified on maps as the Walgreen Coast was named by Adm. Richard E. Byrd, a family friend, in honor of Mr. Walgreen Sr. The trip required Mr. Walgreen Jr. to grow a beard and train for a year, and it was one of the great disappointments of his life that, because of a mix-up over a doctor’s orders, he was not allowed on the final flight from base camp to the Pole. However, he is believed to be the oldest adventurer ever to visit Antarctica.