Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
History
The Beginnings
A school of pharmacy at the University of the Pacific was first suggested to Mr. Jess Rudkin, Director of Development, by Mr. Jacob Rehfus, a former official of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science.
A year or so later, Dr. Robert Burns, President of the University of the Pacific, Dr. Lloyd Bertholf, Academic Vice President, and Mr. Rudkin agreed to discuss the project with a small group of community pharmacists.
Dr. Emerson Cobb, Chairman of the Chemistry Department, was added to the group and asked to determine interest in the local pharmacy community. Included in the early discussions were Angelo Sanguinetti, Edna Gleason, and Leon Happell.
At the 1953 Convention of the California Pharmaceutical Association, John P. Creighton, President of the Association, formed a committee to survey the need for an additional school of pharmacy in California.
By 1954, the committee determined that existing facilities in California could not be expanded to provide enough pharmacists in the following decade.
The University of the Pacific was one of several educational institutions in northern California that seemed to have adequate physical facilities, staff, and interest in developing a school of pharmacy.
In July 1954, Dr. Burns, Mr. Angelo Sanguinetti, and Dr. Cobb met in San Francisco with Mr. George Bohlken, Secretary to the Northern California Pharmaceutical Association.
Out of this meeting came the motion offered by Mr. Martin Winton of Fresno, that the Association give encouragement and support to the University of the Pacific to develop a school of pharmacy.
The motion was passed and Mr. Winton then pledged his personal interest in the project with the first monetary contribution.
Enthusiasm for the new school increased rapidly, and financial support from local pharmacists and friends was immediate.
By August 1955, President Burns and Academic Vice President Bertholf selected Ivan W. Rowland, the dean at the College of Pharmacy at Idaho State University, as the inaugural dean of the School of Pharmacy.
Emmons E. Rosco, former dean at Idaho State, became the first faculty member to join the new school.
Next: Expansion
