BGC Donates, Names UT Tyler Pharmacy Building
Brookshire Grocery Co. (BGC) has made a donation to The University of Texas at Tyler to name the W.T. Brookshire Pharmacy Building, which will become the home of the college’s new pharmacy program. The announcement was made jointly by UT Tyler president Rodney H. Mabry and BGC president and CEO Rick Rayford.
“Brookshire Grocery Company made this investment in the pharmacy school at UT Tyler to honor our company’s founder, enhance the educational opportunities in Tyler, and to have a positive impact on the Tyler economy and community,” said Rayford. “Members of BGC’s board of Directors are pleased to make this donation, which will undoubtedly have a positive impact for years to come.”
Brookshire’s board of directors approved the gift to be used toward the construction of the new facility on the UT Tyler campus. The facility will be named for the founder of the grocery company, and it will house the Ben and Maytee Fisch College of Pharmacy. “We are very happy to have this generous gift to help build the home of our new pharmacy program,” said Mabry. “This gift will allow us to construct the full-scale facility that we have envisioned, and we are extremely grateful to the board of directors and the Brookshire family for helping to make this a reality.”
Rayford and BGC have been strong local supporters of the initiative to add the college, which will fulfill a workforce need and provide East Texas students access to a course of study that is not available locally or regionally.
Almost 10 years in the making, the Ben and Maytee Fisch College of Pharmacy will be an innovative, self-sustaining program in which UT Tyler will partner with UT Health Northeast on the research to be conducted at the pharmacy school.
One of the 15 campuses of the UT System, UT Tyler offers excellence in teaching, research, artistic performance and community service. More than 80 undergraduate and graduate degree programs are available at UT Tyler, which has an enrollment of more than 7,500 students at its campuses in Tyler, Longview and Palestine.
Brookshire Grocery Co. operates 152 stores in three states -- Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas -- with three distribution centers and seven manufacturing facilities.