NOW Foods (Bloomingdale, IL) founder Elwood Richard was recently honored by the Natural Products Association (NPA) with their Lifetime Achievement Award.

The award was presented in a September ceremony in conjunction with the Natural Products Expo East trade show in Baltimore, MD.

According to NOW, the NPA Lifetime Achievement award is bestowed to a pioneer in the natural products industry and this designation reflects the very long history of deep commitment to the industry guided by El’s vision since he started the company 46 years ago.

Educated as a physical chemist, Richard expected it would be temporary when he joined his father’s company, Fearn Soya, in 1960. Seeing a need to help people be healthy, he started the Fruitful Yield stores in the Chicago suburbs in 1963, which led to the launch of NOW Foods in 1968 to supply quality products at reasonable prices to the stores, reported NOW.

Still owned by the Richard family and with 46 years of dedication exclusively to natural foods retailers, NOW is currently one of the largest providers of products and services to natural food retailers. Retired from the day-to-day operation, Richard remains involved in the industry through his work as webmaster for the Natural Health Research Institute.

For more information, visit www.nowfoods.com