Some individuals have been
recognized for Hall of Fame
induction because of the success
and prominence of their business
creations. Joseph Banigan, in
whose building we conduct this
ceremony, is one local example.
He was a co-founder of U. S.
Rubber Company (Uniroyal) and
its early president. Today we
honor another creator of a mam-
moth enterprise ” Woonsocket
native Sidney S. Goldstein who,
with his younger brother Stanley,
are the founders of the CVS
pharmacy and health care com-
pany. As of 2015, it ranked 35 th
in the Fortune Global 500 list of
the worlds largest companies
and is the 9th largest company in
the United States. In 2015, CVS
had 7,800 pharmacies, 137,800
employees, and over $153 billion
in revenue. Not bad for a
Woonsocket-based operation!
The single seed for this huge
forest of pharmacies and allied
health services was planted in
Lowell, Massachusetts in 1963 by
the Goldstein brothers and
Woonsocket’s Ralph P. Hoagland
with health and beauty products
supplied from the Woonsocket
warehouse of Mark Steven, Inc.,
on 54 East School Street, a firm
founded in 1952 by Sidneys
father, Israel, to market health
and beauty aids.
The 1963 entity, called
Consumer Value Stores, grew
rapidly. By 1969, it had expanded
to over 50 stores, made pharma-
cies the heart of its operation,
and merged with Melville
Corporation ” one of the
nations largest retail and distri-
bution firms ” to open up new
avenues for growth. In the nearly
half-century since then, CVS has
constantly expanded, absorbed
other drug store chains, and
become a national acronym for
health care services.
Sidney, one of the catalysts in
the creation of this colossal cor-
poration, was born on July 17,
1929 in Woonsocket, a son of
Israel and Etta (Halpern)
Goldstein. He grew up on
Delude Avenue; went to
Woonsocket’s public schools;
graduated from Dean Academy,
now Dean College, in Franklin,
Massachusetts; and then attend-
ed Bryant-Stratton Business
College in Boston.
In addition to his role as
president and treasurer of Mark
Steven, Inc. and executive vice
president of CVS, Sidney was a
civic leader. He served seven
years on the Woonsocket
Development Agency, was a
member of the Woonsocket
Industrial Authority, and a direc-
tor of the Greater Woonsocket
Chamber of Commerce. Using
those in^uential positions, he
persuaded Woonsocket Mayor
Edgar Lussier to execute plans
for an industrial park off
Mendon Road so that the rapidly
growing CVS chain could
remain in his native city.
Always the humanitarian,
Sidney immersed himself in
charitable endeavors leading
local fund-raising drives for such
agencies as the Hemophilia
Fund, the United Way, Meeting
Street School, and his alma
mater, Dean College.
Friends described Sidney as
a regular “down-to-earth guy”
with a “great sense of humor,”
and a “flair for the practical
joke.” He was an avid and
accomplished golfer.
Sidney and his wife Ruth had
two sons, James and Richard. He
retired from CVS in 1987 and
maintained a second home in
Carefree, Arizona, where he died
on February 15, 1995 at the age
of sixty-five. He is buried in B’nai
Israel Cemetery in his beloved
Woonsocket.