I rise today to pay tribute to a distinguished constituent and colleague, a leader in the pharmacy profession, who passed away earlier this year just two weeks shy of his 96th birthday, Mr. Willard B. Simmons.  Mr. Simmons’ 96 years in this world were spent serving his profession, his community, and his family.

Simmons was born in Myrtis, Louisiana, on February 22, 1906.  His father, Hardy A. Simmons, Sr., was a pharmacist who owned his own drugstore, a profession the younger Simmons chose to follow.  He graduated from the Little Rock College of Pharmacy in 1924 and was licensed to practice in both Arkansas and Texas.  He worked in his father’s pharmacy in Bloomburg, Texas, for several years, and then the two formed a partnership and bought a store in Texarkana, naming it the Modern Simmons Drug Company.

In his career, Simmons assumed a position of leadership on committees in the Texas Pharmaceutical Association, serving three times as president of the Texarkana Retail Druggists Association.  He served as vice president of the Arkansas Pharmaceutical Association and was a two-time president of the Texarkana Chamber of Commerce.

Willard Simmons is best remembered for his work as executive secretary and general manager of the National Association of Retail Druggists (NARD), the former namesake of National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA).  He assumed this role in 1961, and over the course of his tenure, helped the association overcome many challenges facing the pharmacy industry in the 1960’s and early 1070’s. 

Simmons also left his mark on our Nation’s Capital.  He established both the NARD annual legislative conference in Washington and the NARD Political Action Committee, with its motto “Get Into Politics or Get Out of Pharmacy.”  Simmons seemed to live that motto and became personal friends with then Representatives Wright Patman and Jake Pickle, as well as former President Lyndon B. Johnson.  He was a frequent visitor to the White House and was responsible for extending the association’s lobbying efforts throughout Washington.  His work influenced legislation and fair trade issues affecting not only the pharmaceutical industry, but small businesses just like his across the nation. 

The NCPA has fittingly recognized Willard Simmons’ outstanding career and exemplary life by establishing the Willard B. Simmons Independent Pharmacist of the Year award, which recognizes an independent pharmacist for exemplary leadership and commitment to independent pharmacy and to the community.

While Willard Simmons may no longer be with us, his legacy and spirit will live on in all whose lives he touched.  I wish to extend my continued sympathies to his wife, Eloise, his son Willard, Jr., his granddaughter, Savannah, his brother and sisters, Hardy Simmons, Dorothy Simmons, and Mary Blizzard, and all his family and friends.  They can take great pride in his lifetime of accomplishment and service to the pharmacy profession and his fellow citizens.