USA Drug founder Stephen LaFrance Sr. to enter Arkansas Business Hall of Fame

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — USA Drug founder Stephen LaFrance Sr. on Thursday was posthumously nominated into the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame by the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas and the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame Board. 

 

From a single drug store, LaFrance built a chain of retail drug stores headquartered in Pine Bluff covering nine states and more than 150 locations with more than $750 million in annual sales; a wholly owned wholesale drug distribution operation regularly serving more than 1,200 customers in 14 states in addition to USA Drug’s own retail drug stores; a real estate portfolio with strategically located retail properties; and an Arkansas organization supporting more than 3,500 employees and their families.

 

"During his lifetime, LaFrance preferred his philanthropic efforts to be anonymous. The Salvation Army, the Susan G. Komen Foundation, the Arkansas Children’s Hospital and work on diabetes at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences were just some of the projects that enjoyed his support," the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame Board noted.

 

LaFrance, along with three other Arkansas business leaders, will be inducted on Feb. 13, the board reported. 

 

“We are pleased to welcome another distinguished group of business leaders to the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame,” stated Dean Eli Jones, dean Walton College. “They join an exceptional list of inductees who have been recognized among the best in Arkansas business. The outstanding achievements of these four, just as all of the hall of fame’s current members, will have an impact on the future business leaders in Arkansas and around the world.”

 

The Arkansas Business Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock. The Arkansas Business Hall of Fame is permanently housed in the atrium of the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Enterprise Development at the Walton College on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville.

 

Greg Lee, a Walton College alumnus and the retired chief administrative officer and international president of Tyson Foods, chaired the selection process. A nominating committee of 18 business leaders encouraged people throughout the state and beyond to make nominations. A selection committee of nine business and community leaders reviewed the nominations and chose the inductees. Criteria for selection included: the significance of the impact made as a business leader, the concern demonstrated for improving the community and the display of ethics in all business dealings. In addition, living inductees must be over the age of 60.

 

A list of previous inductees into the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame is available at WaltonCollege.uark.edu/abhf.