
Jack Beal
President (1962-1963)
Honorary Member (1984)
Originally from Kansas, Jack Beal joined The Ohio State University (OSU) as a graduate student
in 1950 under the supervision of the then Dean, Bernard V. Christensen. Following his
graduation in 1952, he was appointed Assistant Professor in the College of Pharmacy that same
year. His main research interests focused on isoquinoline-type alkaloids of
the genus Thalictrum and their biological activities. Dr. Beal’s
collaborations with Raymond W. Doskotch and Popat N. Patil led to
numerous articles on the constituents of Thalictrum, describing more than
175 alkaloids, 80 of which were novel. In a career that spanned over 40
years, Dr. Beal served as the advisor for 15 doctoral and 12 master’s level
students, of whom many pursued positions in active research and teaching.
Dr. Beal was a founding member of ASP and he served as its third
president. Dr. Beal contributed remarkably to the Society through his
tenure as Editor-in-Chief of J. Nat. Prod. (Lloydia) (1977-1983), during which time the journal
changed its name and was established as a forum for high-quality publications on natural
products research. Dr. Beal was the recipient of many awards, among them the Research
Achievement Award in Natural Products Chemistry from the American Pharmaceutical
Association Foundation in 1982 and Honorary Membership of ASP. He was designated as
“Distinguished Economic Botanist” in 1989 by the Society of Economic Botany. In recognition
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of his outstanding contribution to the College of Pharmacy at OSU, where he also served as
Assistant Dean and co-founded the Pharmacy Alumni Association, the “Jack L. Beal
Professorship and Endowed Chair” was established for a prominent natural products chemist and
pharmacognosist. (Mark Bahar)