Lester David Sparks

L. David “Dave” Sparks, 82, of Richmond, Texas, passed away peacefully on Saturday, May 9, 2026. A pharmacist, visionary leader, fierce advocate, devoted family man and loyal friend, Dave leaves behind a legacy that transformed the compounding pharmacy industry and touched countless lives.

Dave was born on September 22, 1943, in Stringtown, Oklahoma, to Province and Ernestine Sparks. He grew up in the small farming community of Atoka, Oklahoma, one of seven children, four of whom survived into adulthood. As a boy, Dave frequented the local drugstore with its soda fountain, where he first watched pharmacists at work and developed a quiet admiration for the profession. He worked at a bakery during his last three years of high school, and a local physician, Dr. James Wilson, saw promise in the young man and encouraged him to pursue higher education.

After graduating from Atoka High School — where he was recently honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award — Dave enrolled at Oklahoma State University (OSU) on a tuba scholarship, playing in the marching band and pep band. He also served in the Oklahoma National Guard, where conversations with two squad leaders who were pharmacists confirmed his calling. He transferred from OSU to study pharmacy at Southwestern Oklahoma State University. It was there he met fellow student Kay, who famously got his attention by dumping a hot water bath on him. She was one of seven women in their class of 77. Dave and Kay married in 1965 and earned their pharmacy degrees in 1966.

After graduation, they moved to Tulsa, where Dave joined Scott Robison’s Prescriptions, becoming a partner in 1976 and helping implement one of Tulsa’s first computerized pharmacy systems in 1977. In the early 1980s, feeling that mass production had diminished the pharmacist’s role, Dave found renewed purpose when a hospice facility opened six blocks from his pharmacy. He became a volunteer and pioneer, compounding pain medicine and anti-nausea medications for dying patients. He co-founded the Oklahoma Hospice Organization and served as a founding director of Hospice of Green Country, bringing compounding pharmacy into hospice care in groundbreaking ways.

In 1982, Dave joined Professional Compounding Centers of America (PCCA), then a fledgling network of pharmacists in Houston. In 1987, he and Kay bought a financial stake in the organization, and in 1988 they moved to Houston to work full-time — employee numbers 16 and 17. Dave worked alongside Dr. M. George Webber, PCCA’s first consulting pharmacist, while Kay built PCCA’s renowned training programs, setting standards of excellence that endure today.

Dave became President and CEO in 1992, growing PCCA from a small start-up into an international organization serving more than 3,000 pharmacy members across the United States, Canada, Australia and beyond. He established Eagle Analytical Services, acquired Wellness Works and added PK Software — always pursuing unmet needs of member pharmacists. In 2009, he became CEO as Jim Smith assumed the presidency of PCCA. On April 1, 2025, he transitioned to Chairman of the Board of Precision Health Holdings, the parent company of PCCA, Eagle Analytical Services and Wilcrest Pharma.

The accomplishment Dave was most proud of was his relentless advocacy for pharmacists’ right to compound. He was a founding director of Patients and Professionals for Customized Care (P2C2), which evolved into the International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists and is now the Alliance for Pharmacy Compounding. He played a key role in the passage of FDA reform legislation in 1997 and organized pharmacists to walk Capitol Hill in their white lab coats — a tradition lawmakers came to recognize year after year. Known to get into spirited shouting matches with FDA officials, Dave became something of a legend within the agency. In 2021, PCCA created the L. David Sparks Advocacy Award in his honor.

Dave earned numerous accolades: American Druggist’s “50 Most Influential People in Pharmacy” (1999), the NCPA John W. Dargavel Medal (2006), the American College of Apothecaries (ACA) J. Leon Lascoff Memorial Award with Kay (2007) and the SWOSU Distinguished Alumnus Award (2000). He served on Purdue University’s Old Masters Board and the University of Houston College of Pharmacy’s Dean’s Advisory Board, where he was also an Adjunct Professor. He was an ACA Fellow, an APC Academic Fellow, a longtime Vistage member and a member of Kappa Psi and Rho Chi.

Dave was a man of deep faith who came to Christ in the mid-1980s. He was a generous supporter of the Fort Bend Women’s Center, the book ministry of the Emmanuel Church in Tulsa and the University of Houston College of Pharmacy, where a pharmacy lab bears the Sparks family name.

He loved fly fishing in the streams of Colorado, cheered passionately for his OSU Cowboys and played the card game “Pitch” with his family every Sunday after church. He had a warm Oklahoma drawl, a ready smile and a way of making everyone feel important. He loved to dress as Santa Claus for PCCA’s Christmas meetings, and small children at restaurants were regularly convinced he was the real thing. Dave was still visiting the PCCA office in the days before his passing —sitting in on interviews, greeting colleagues and doing what he loved most.

Dave was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Kay Sparks, who passed away on Christmas Day 2012 — her favorite holiday — and by his brother Ralph Sparks. He is survived by his son, Bryan Sparks, daughter-in-law Mollie Sparks, grandson Aaron Sparks, granddaughter Sarah Sartors and her husband, Tim, brothers Harry Sparks and Curtis Sparks, and nieces Celeste Catcher and Lisa Silvius.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Wednesday, June 3, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. at First Colony Church of Christ in Sugar Land, Texas. PCCA will host a lunch immediately following at its corporate headquarters, 9901 S. Wilcrest, Houston, Texas 77099. A private graveside service for the family will take place on Friday, May 15, 2026.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Dave’s honor to the Fort Bend Women’s Center ( https://www.fbwc.org/ ) or RISE Institute for Compounding’s L. David Sparks Legacy Fund ( https://www.riseinstituteforcompounding.org/ ).