Content about Cleveland Browns

August 24, 2011

If the legacy of a man is measured in the number of people he positively influenced, then surely Charlie Bowlus was a titan of our industry.

 SARASOTA, Fla. — If the legacy of a man is measured in the number of people he positively influenced, then surely Charlie Bowlus was a titan of our industry. Not only did he have a profound impact on the personal lives of the people among whom he worked — ECRM employees, retailers and suppliers — he made an indelible mark on the way this industry does business. 

August 22, 2011

Hugs for Charlie — take one and pass it along

Within hours of the time Drug Store News first reported the tragic loss of ECRM founder and CEO Charlie Bowlus, the story already had become the most-commented-upon news item on DrugStoreNews.com since we launched the site in 1998. As this edition of the Weekly Drug Fix hits readers’ inboxes, more than 50 Drug Store News readers already had shared their memories of Charlie’s life and career — and how his friendship improved their own lives and careers — in posts on DrugStoreNews.com and on our Facebook page, as well as in direct letters to the editor. More than 100 others had shared their thoughts in a special online memorial bulletin board on the ECRM Marketgate website, ECRM.marketgate.com/marketgate/Charlie.aspx. In total, it’s enough for an entire issue of Drug Store News. And you better believe, it would be one BIG issue.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT — “[Charlie] never wanted the spotlight,” longtime friend and colleague Al Kraus noted in an online post, recalling a conversation with Charlie Bowlus over a drink one night in 1994, at the end of the very first ECRM show. “His first show had maybe 80 people. ... I asked him if he made any money on the show. He said, ‘I don’t know, but a lot of people did business, and it was a hell of a party.’”