William E. Upjohn

William Erastus Upjohn (1853-1932) was a medical doctor, founder and president of The Upjohn Pharmaceutical Company. He was named Person of the Century by the Kalamazoo Michigan newspaper.^[1]

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Biography

William Erastus Upjohn was one of twelve children born to Dr. Uriah Upjohn in Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA. An 1875 graduate of the University of Michigan medical school, he practiced medicine for 10 years in Hastings, Michigan.

In his home, Dr. Upjohn experimented with ways to improve the means of administering medicine. He invented the easily digested friable pill, for which he received a patent in 1885. In 1886, he founded The Upjohn Pharmaceutical Company in Kalamazoo to manufacture friable pills and served 40 years as company president.

Personal life

He married Rachel Babcock, who gave him four children. She died after twenty-seven years of marriage. In 1913, he married his neighbor Carrie Sherwood Gilmore, widow of James F. Gilmore, one of the founders of the Gilmore Brothers department store.

Humanitarian contributions

Dr. Upjohn helped establish the commissioner-manager form of government in Kalamazoo. He provided the seed for the Kalamazoo Community Foundation, established the W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, and contributed to the Kalamazoo Civic Auditorium. Known as a lover of flowers, he established gardens at Brook Lodge, his summer home near Augusta.

References

1. ^ "Person of the Century: Upjohn made his mark on Kalamazoo", Kalamazoo Gazette, 1 January 2000, section A, page 1.