Dr. Willard M. Bright, 99, of Vero Beach, passed away peacefully on Saturday, July 13, 2013 at the VNA Hospice House in Vero Beach.

Dr. Bright, was a founder of ZOLL Medical Corporation, and had been Chairman of the company from 1982-1996, and sat on the Board of Directors until 2006. ZOLL Medical designs, manufactures and markets an integrated line of proprietary, non-invasive cardiac resuscitation devices and disposable electrodes.

Earlier, Dr. Bright was President and Chief Executive Officer of Boehringer Mannheim Corporation, the holding company responsible for Boehringer's U.S. activities. He was also advisor to the Board of Management of Boehringer Mannheim GmbH, and to the family group that owns this major German healthcare company.

He had wide experience in research and development, acquisitions and diversification marketing, and general management in the healthcare, consumer products, and industrial products industries. Incidentally, he had been an officer and director of every organization he had ever worked for - and that includes five companies that were listed in the Fortune 500 while he was with them.

After Dr. Bright completed his PhD in chemistry at Harvard, he started to work for the Kendall Company in the research and development department. He was responsible for the invention and development of a number of products, which at that time accounted for about one-eighth of that company's business. After ten years with Kendall, he left the organization but returned eighteen years later as President and Chief Executive Officer. After the merger of Kendall with Colgate-Palmolive he retired. Then a few weeks later he became President of Curtiss-Wright Corporation, for a period.

During that eighteen-year "leave of absence" from Kendall, Dr. Bright was an officer and member of the Board of Directors of Lever Brothers Company, Reynolds Industries (the Reynolds Tobacco) and the Warner-Lambert Company.

At Lever he was in charge of research and development and later chief technical officer of the corporation with responsibility for all technically related activities including quality control, manufacturing and cost reduction activities.

While at Reynolds he supervised the research, development and corporate development activities. He was Chairman of the Board of Directors' Committee on Acquisitions and Diversification and set in motion the program that took Reynolds from Tobacco to Industries in its name.

Dr. Bright returned to the healthcare industry as a Senior Vice President of Warner-Lambert in 1968. As President of the Professional Products Group, he was responsible for Warner-Chilcott, General Diagnostics, Lactona, Texas Pharmacal, and the Chemical Divisions. He left Warner-Lambert to return to Kendall in 1970.

In addition to being a director of each of these companies, he had been a director of The First National Bank of Boston (now The Bank of Boston), Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, City Stores, Colgate-Palmolive, Dorr-Oliver, and the Lynch Corporation. He was also a director of CSS Industries, Macrochem Corporation, Furman Lumber Company and ZOLL Medical Corporation.

Dr. Bright had served as President of the Industrial Research Institute, a Director of the National Association of Manufacturers, and as advisor to the Secretary of Commerce and the Commissioner of Patents of the United States.

Survivors include his wife, Phyllis A. Bright of Vero Beach; son, Willard Bright Jr. of Vero Beach; daughters, Dawn Reese of South Carolina; Robin Reese of Palm City; and Michele Vachon of Idaho and seven grandchildren.

No services are planned at this time.

Memorial contributions may be made to the VNA Hospice House at 1110 35th Lane, Vero Beach, FL 32960.

Arrangements are under the direction of Cox Gifford Seawinds Funeral Home and Crematory in Vero Beach, FL. Online condolences may be sent at www.coxgiffordseawinds.com.