Dr. Tim Tucker hired for Texas pharmacy position

Dr. Tim Tucker is leaving Huntingdon to accept a position with the state of Texas State Board of Pharmacy. There he will serve as the Executive Director/Secretary and will have 110 employees working with him.The Pharmacy Board has over 10,000 licensed pharmacies, almost 39,000 licensed pharmacists and over 70,000 technicians and interns.

“Our agency is in charge of protecting the citizens of Texas and educating and regulating pharmacies, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians,” said Dr. Tucker.

“I am very excited to be working with a fantastic team and serving the citizens of Texas and the profession of pharmacy,” he said.

His office is located in the William P. Hobby Building on Guadalupe Street in downtown Austin, but will be moving to a new location next summer.

He will reside in Austin where he has an apartment in the Mueller area.

Top positions

Dr. Tucker has held top positions with the Tennessee Pharmacy Association. He has served as Speaker of the House, Chair of the Society of Independent Pharmacists, treasurer and president of the Tennessee Pharmacists Association (TPA). He has served  as Speaker of the House for two terms and has been a member of the TPA board for 25 years. In addition he has been a Board of Trustee member, Speaker of the house, two terms, and President of the American Pharmacists Association, (APhA).. He has also served on the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) for 7-1/2 years and also as its president. He has been involved with many other organizations in pharmacy over the last 33 years.

Prior to his present appointment on June 30, he worked as regional director for business development for Mosaic Pharmacy Services of Sterling, Virginia.

His Service

Over the years he has served the town in governmental and charitable ways.

He has been a member of the Huntingdon Town Council for 31 years and served under Mayors Waldon White and Dale Kelley and been vice mayor three times.

“I have served with many outstanding individuals during my tenure on the council,” he said. “We all haven’t always agreed but I promise you at the end of the day we all did what we thought was in the best interest for the citizens of Huntingdon.”

Some projects of which Tucker says he is proudest is the downtown revitalization project and the progress made on the parks for the children.

He sings the praises of the town’s employees and the work they do.

“We have the most dedicated group of individuals that really care about Huntingdon,” he said. “Most are cross-trained to do multiple jobs to get the job done the best way possible for the best price possible.”

Tucker has prided himself in serving on the Huntingdon School Board for ll years under the leadership of Director of Schools Pat Dillahunty and newly appointed director, Dr. Jonathan Kee.

As far as community service, he served for a number of years as chairman of the very first American Cancer’s Relay for Life in Huntingdon with his best friend, Dr. Lee Carter.

“When I was approached about possibly doing it, I called Lee and ask him if he would consider doing Relay with me and he agreed,” said Tucker. “I have never in my life seen anything that brought our community of South Carroll together more than it did. It was electric and exciting.”

A difference was made in so many individuals and families who were battling cancer, he recalled.

“For all this I say thank you Carroll County because together our community does great things,” he said. “I am very proud of the community that raised me and helped me raise my children.”

He is a member of First Baptist Church of Huntingdon where he has sung in the choir and also been a soloist.

About Tim Tucker

Dr. Tim Tucker was born April 25, 1964 in Camden to Leon and Marge Tucker. He was married to the former Diane Wood, daughter of the late Mitchell Wood and Glenda Wood Linton, on July 20, 1991.

They have three sons. Will, 26, who married Mary Grace Killmer on June 13 of this year in Alexandria, Virginia where they reside. He is a consultant for Deloitte with the Federal government and Mary Grace is a senior technical accountant at Northrop Grumman.  Both are CPA’s.

Matt, 24, is a third year optometry student at Kentucky College of Optometry (KYCO) at the University of Pikeville. Jack, 21, is a senior at UT-Knoxville in the Audiology Speech Language Pathology program.

Decision to be a Pharmacist

At an early age, Tim witnessed what a difference his dad and his business partner, Maurice Eldridge, made in the patients’ lives they served.

At first he said that he wanted to be a teacher, but soon realized that he wanted to use his skills to teach patients the importance of taking care of themselves and using their medications appropriately.

So it was off to school to realize his dream.

He graduated in the first all Pharm.D. class at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis in 1988 with a Doctor of Pharmacy Degree. He also graduated from Union University in Jackson with a B.S. in Chemistry degree.

“I went to work out of school at City Drug and worked there while I was in high school and college,” said Tim.

 He returned in the summer of 1988 after graduating and began working at City Drug. He remained there until Feb. 3, 2020 when he left. In 2019 he sold the business to Daniel Jones with Strawberry Hills Pharmacy in Paducah, Ky.

The Tuckers and City Drug

The Tucker family’s association with City Drug goes back to Nov. 1965 when Leon Tucker became a partner with Maurice Eldridge. Tucker became the sole proprietor in April 1984 due to the untimely death of Eldridge. Tim and his brother Tony Tucker joined the business upon their respective graduations from pharmacy school in 1977 and 1988. Leon Tucker retired from the business in 1990 and the Tucker brothers relocated the business from 203 Court Square where The Gift Grove is now located to its current location at 630 R.B. Wilson Drive in Sept. 1993. Tim bought Tony’s share of the business in 2011.

Tim admits it was a difficult decision to sell the business that had been in the family for 54 years. His mother was a key person in the business as well, doing a majority of the accounting and book work.

“The economy of the times made it a necessity to make the decision to sell the business to Jones  who also bought the building.

New Job and the Future

Tucker says he is very excited about the new opportunity that God has opened the door for him to do.

“I can use many of my skills and abilities that I have developed over my years in pharmacy to do my new job,” he said. “I definitely leave Huntingdon with mixed emotions. My heart will always be in Huntingdon.”

He plans to come to Huntingdon on a fairly regular basis when his schedule allows. His present plans are to retire in Tennessee when the time comes.

He reflects on the people of Huntingdon who he says have been very good to the Tucker family.

“We have tried our best to be very good to the people of our home town and Carroll County,” he said. “We love and appreciate each of you more than you will ever know.”

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