SPRING PROGRAM 2009

The Society's Silver Anniversary

On May 11, 2005 the Medical History Society of New Jersey (MHSNJ) celebrated its 25th anniversary. Dr. Morris Saffron (1905-1993), medical historian and practicing dermatologist, was the driving force behind the founding of our Society. It was Dr. Saffron who delivered the first formal course of lectures on medical history in the state in 1958, when he was installed as Professor of the History of Medicine at the Seton Hall College of Medicine. Dr. Saffron's memory is kept alive by an annual lectureship established in his honor.

David L. Cowen, professor emeritus of history at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, died Friday, April 14, 2006, at the Francis E. Parker Memorial Home in Piscataway. The cause of death was heart failure secondary to aortic stenosis. Professor Cowen had a long and distinguished career at Rutgers as an educator, researcher and author, and was world-renowned in the field of the history of pharmacy. In 1989, Rutgers' Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy established the nation's first lecture series in the field and named it in his honor. Cowen, who joined Rutgers in 1933, is credited with putting his discipline on the academic map.

"Professor Cowen was highly respected as a luminary in the history of pharmacy," said John L. Colaizzi, dean of the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy. "He was an inspiration to generations of pharmacy faculty and students at Rutgers University, and he will be sorely missed."

Born in New York City on Sept. 1, 1909, he grew up in Newark, where he attended the public schools. He received his bachelor's degree in 1930 and his master's degree in 1931, both from Rutgers, and was awarded an honorary doctorate by the university in 1984.

He was married to the former Mae Wisokolsky from 1933 until her death in 1961, and to the former Florence Weisberg from 1972 until her death in 1988. His home from 1972 until his passing was in the Rossmoor adult community in Monroe.

While teaching in the Newark public schools from 1933 to 1944, he concurrently began his faculty career at Rutgers as an instructor of history at the Rutgers College of Pharmacy, now the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy. He joined the full-time university faculty in 1945, rising to the rank of full professor in 1960. He served as chair of the department of history and political science from 1945 to 1964 and of the department of history from 1965 until his retirement in 1974.

At Rutgers, he received the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching in 1961 and the Rutgers Medal in 1974. With retired Merck & Co. executive William Helfand, he co-wrote "Pharmacy: An Illustrated History," published in 1990. In 1991, Cowen and the late Roy Bowers, former dean of the Rutgers College of Pharmacy, co-authored " Rutgers University College of Pharmacy: A Centennial History." He served on the councils of the American Association for the History of Medicine, the American Institute of the History of Pharmacy and the International Society for the History of Pharmacy. He chaired the Council of the Institute of Pharmacy for 10 years. In his honor, the Medical History Society of New Jersey established the David L. Cowen Award for Achievement in Medical History.

Cowen is survived by his son, Dr. Bruce R. Cowen, and daughter-in-law, Flora Buchbinder Cowen, of Edison; stepdaughters, Joan Jay of Livingston, Liz Kupperman of Great Barrington, Mass., and Susan Rinsky of Cupertino, Calif.; nine grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren. Memorial arrangements are pending.

( Reprinted from Home News Tribune Online, April 20, 2006)