Remembering Robert L. Day, PharmD, Class of ’59

By UCSF School of Pharmacy Staff

Robert L. Day, PharmD ’59, the former School of Pharmacy associate dean whose decades of advocacy and commitment to academic innovation led to the advancement of the Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum and pharmacy practice, died at home on Oct. 4, 2024. He was 90 years old.

“Bob was an icon for our school, for UCSF and for the pharmacy profession as a whole,” said Dean Kathy Giacomini, PhD, BSPharm. “He was innovative in his thinking – and had the will and persistence to drive positive change forward. He leaves behind an unforgettable legacy for all of us to follow.”

After earning his PharmD degree at UCSF, Day joined the faculty in 1962. Over a career that spanned five decades, he taught pharmacy practice courses and mentored countless students. He significantly advanced pharmacy education, championing the revamp of the school’s PharmD curriculum in the late 1960s, early 1970s and the late 1990s. Through his initiative and the Ninth Floor Pharmacy Project, Day was instrumental in preparing students for an expanded role as pharmacists.

He served as the school’s assistant dean of student affairs, associate dean of continuing education and professional affairs, and associate dean. He was central to establishing the school’s Thomas A. Oliver Informatics Resource Center, a state-of-the-art, technology facility for education and research.

Advocate, historian and humanitarian

Robert Day and wife Dorothy, UCSF School of Pharmacy Commencement, 1959

Among students and colleagues alike, Day was known for his professional expertise and dedication to educational excellence.

For decades and even after he retired in 2012, he was the school’s resident historian, safekeeping records and remembrances to amplify the school’s rich history with a personal touch. He was known as a gifted writer and storyteller, and for the sense of humor he shared generously at events and in the alumni newsletters he authored.

Beyond the university, Day was a leader of student advocacy and was an ardent supporter of pharmacy student organizations. In the 1970s, Day spearheaded the revival of the American Pharmacists Association Academy of Student Pharmacists (APhA-ASP).

In the 1980s, he partnered with faculty members David Adler, PharmD, and Lorie Rice, MPH, to pave the way for scores of Vietnamese refugee pharmacists from the University of Saigon College of Pharmacy to qualify for Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Equivalency Examination. With Adler, he secured funding to offer refresher coursework at UC San Diego. Together, they also helped draft a state bill that allowed the Vietnamese pharmacists to sit for the California licensure examination without being required to produce the college transcripts that were lost to them.

Honors, awards and the Bob Day Student Center

Carmen Holt

Bob Day Student Center

Day served on numerous professional organizations at the local, state and national levels. Among these, he was chair of the Council of Deans and a member of the Board of Directors of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. He was a member of the Competency Committee of the California State Board of Pharmacy for more than 20 years, and a founder and chapter author of the APhA Handbook on Non-Prescription Medication.

He was honored with many awards, including the Distinguished Alumnus Award of the UCSF Pharmacy Alumni Association in 1992; two award citations from the Vietnamese Pharmacists Association of America in the 1980s; the Linwood F. Tice Friend of the American Pharmacists Association Academy of Student Pharmacist Award in 2006; and the Hugo H. Schaefer Award from the APhA in 2013. He was inducted into the California Pharmacists Association Hall of Fame in 2010 and was named a fellow of the APhA in 2015.

In 2021, colleagues, former students and friends established the Bob Day Student Center and the Bob Day Student Support Fund in his honor. The Bob Day Student Center is a space on the ninth floor of the UCSF Medical Sciences Building where PharmD students connect, exchange ideas and build community. The Bob Day Student Support Fund honors Day’s commitment to PharmD students by supporting student activities and priorities in perpetuity.

More

Robert L. Day Collection: Anatomy of an Archival Project