The ASP Executive Committee mourns the very great loss on Monday, November 16 of a major figure in the Society and an Honorary Member, Dr. David J. Slatkin, who had been bravely fighting Parkinson’s disease for several years. David became Treasurer of ASP in 1981, and served superbly in this capacity for over 30 years. He had an incredible knowledge of the how the Society operated, and was irrepressible in his enthusiasm for natural products. In 2004, he was the main organizer of the International Congress of Natural Products Research, Phoenix, AZ. In addition to serving the ASP with such dedication and distinction, David was also a talented senior administrator for several Colleges of Pharmacy. His most recent appointment was as Founding Dean of the Chicago State University College of Pharmacy, and he served also as Founding Dean of both the Chicago College of Pharmacy, Midwestern University and of the Midwestern University College of Pharmacy, Glendale, Arizona. Earlier he was faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, where he became Assistant Dean for Student Affairs. His initial appointment as a faculty member was at Northwest Louisiana University, Monroe, LA. A native of Brooklyn, NY, David held Bachelor’s degrees from Wayne State University (Chemistry; 1966) and Mercer University Southern School of Pharmacy (Pharmacy; 1968), as well as M.S. (1971) and Ph.D. (1972) degrees from the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy. David co-authored about 80 research articles, and was a frequent referee for the Journal of Natural Products. He was the recipient of the Merck Award while at Mercer University and an American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education – Edwin Leigh Newcomb Memorial Fellow at the University of Mississippi. In 1999, Dr. Slatkin was selected by American Pharmacist magazine as one of the 50 Most Influential Pharmacists in the United States.
Discovering nature's molecular potential