[1] In the 1930s, Mr. Long borrowed $25,000 ($376,000 in 2018) to open a drug store with his younger brother, Joseph in Oakland.
That store would become the first of a 274-store chain which in 1996 had annual sales of $2.5 billion in five states as of the time of his death.
Thomas Long retired as the company's chairman in 1975, but he remained a director until his death.
He tried to avoid publicity and shunned extravagance, though he was reported to hold more than $70 million of the company's stock.
Long School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at the University of the Pacific is also named after him.