Value-conscious consumers have good reason to be grateful to Lewis Lehrman. As a pioneer in the discount drugstore business, he developed many innovative concepts in discount retailing which have become a part of everyday life.

Lewis Lehrman received a Master’s degree from Harvard in 1962. After serving in the U.S. Army, he joined the family’s wholesale grocery business.

The availability of inner city retail apace and the untapped potential of the discount drugstore industry appealed to him. Working with partners, he began to redirect the family business. Many of Rite Aid’s first stores opened in downtown areas which had been ignored by other firms. The urban renaissance has since transformed these small outlets into some of the most profitable of the chain’s 800-plus stores.

Rite Aid’s computerized distribution centers, low-priced private label brands, and in-store pharmacies have made it a favorite of careful consumers. The firm projects sales of between $740 and $750 million this year. The company also operates a chain of stores in Great Britain.

Lewis Lehrman served as president of Rite Aid from 1968-1977, when he became chairman of the executive committee. In 1972 he founded the Lehrman Institute, an organization which provides an open forum for the study of economic and foreign policy issues and analysis of local and state government. Mr. Lehrman has long been interested in economics and government and has written several articles and co-authored a book on the subject.