May 14, 2026

Celebrating the Life of L. David Sparks

Thank you to everyone who has reached out with condolences, memories and words of love following the passing of Dave Sparks. The response from the pharmacy compounding community has been a beautiful reflection of the impact he had on so many lives — and a testament to the relationships he spent a lifetime building. We are honored to invite you to join us in celebrating Dave's remarkable life and legacy.

Read Dave's Full Obituary

Celebration of Life – Wednesday, June 3, 2026

10:00 AM CT – First Colony Church of Christ, 2140 First Colony Boulevard, Sugar Land, Texas 77479
Followed by Lunch at PCCA – 9901 S. Wilcrest Drive, Houston, Texas 77099
Wear PCCA blue, your pharmacy lab coat or PCCA logowear to honor Dave.
NOTE: The service will be livestreamed. We will share the link when available.

Register for Lunch by Wednesday, May 27 - http://bit.ly/DaveRSVP

Please let us know if you plan to attend lunch so we can ensure we have room for everyone.

Traveling from Out of Town?

These hotels are close to the church: Houston Marriott Sugar Land (a block of rooms with a special rate has been reserved; check back here for a direct reservation link); Hyatt Place Houston/Sugar Land and Courtyard by Marriott Houston Sugar Land/Lake Pointe.

Share Your Memories of Dave - CorpComm@pccarx.com

So many of you have already shared beautiful reflections about Dave, and we want to make sure those stories are preserved. We are collecting written memories, reflections and photos from those whose lives he touched to be featured in a future issue of the Apothagram as a lasting tribute to his legacy. Whether it’s a story from a conference, a lesson he taught you, a moment that stayed with you or simply what Dave meant to you — we would love to hear from you by Wednesday, May 27. Please include your name, your connection to Dave and any photos you'd like to share.

Dave’s Legacy Lives On

Dave helped build something that will endure — a strong organization, a passionate community and a profession that is better because he gave his life to it. We are grateful for every year, every lesson and every life he touched.

L. David Sparks

September 22, 1943 – May 9, 2026

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 National Community Pharmacists Association (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 December Company 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 (fbwc.org) or RISE Institute for Compounding’s L. David Sparks Legacy Fund (riseinstituteforcompounding.org).

Please RSVP by Wednesday, May 27, for the Celebration of Life luncheon at bit.ly/DaveRSVP.

MEDIA CONTACT

Kim Speairs, APR, MBA, PCCA Vice President of Communications, 817.729.5064, kspeairs@pccarx.com