Robert J. Gerraughty thought it wasn't enough for pharmacists to just fill prescriptions correctly. As dean of the Creighton University School of Pharmacy in the early 1970s, he led the way for patient-oriented care and set up learning modules for students to become familiar with 20-some diseases.
Gerraughty died on Friday of Alzheimer's disease at the Circle of Life Hospice in Bentonville, Ark. He was 83.
Services were scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday at St. Bernard Catholic Church in Bella Vista, Ark.
Gerraughty was born in Newton, Mass., and raised in the Boston area. After graduation from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy in Boston and a brief stint as a minor league baseball player with the Boston Red Sox organization, Gerraughty joined the U.S. Air Force, according to son Andrew of Bella Vista.
The senior Gerraughty participated in the space program, testing an early version of a high-altitude pressure suit and helping to train astronauts for the Mercury program. In 1953, he met and married June Wheatley at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.
He completed his doctorate in pharmacy at the University of Connecticut in 1958. Gerraughty was teaching pharmacy students at the University of Rhode Island and training inspectors for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration when Creighton hired him in 1971.
Gerraughty's son, who was 14 at that time, said he began to realize what a social man his father was when the family moved from Narragansett, R.I., with a population of approximately 2,500, to Omaha.
"I knew Omaha was a big place because he didn't seem to know everybody," the son said. "In Narragansett, he seemed to know everybody at all strata. He was gregarious, a good listener and a heck of a story teller. He loved to read. And if anybody was around, he loved to talk. We're going to miss him."
In his 27 years at Creighton, Gerraughty was promoted twice. In 1977 he was named associate vice president of health sciences and in the 1980s he was appointed vice president of administration.
In the latter role, in the mid-1980s, he responded on behalf of the university when Kevin Ross, a former Creighton basketball player, accused the university of not helping him learn to read or write. The accusations were aired on an ABC "Nightline" program. Gerraughty said university staff members had been frustrated by a lack of effort on Ross' part when additional assistance was provided.
After his retirement from Creighton in 1989, Gerraughty did some consulting for drug manufacturing firms and enjoyed living in Bella Vista.
"He was an extraordinary minister in his church," his son said. "He was active in Neighborhood Watch. He loved to play golf and play cards. He seemed to know everybody."
Besides his son Andrew, Gerraughty is survived by his wife of 58 years; sons David of Narragansett, Matthew of Portland, Ore., and Samuel of Omaha; daughter Susan Brindley of Tucson, Ariz.; and three grandchildren.
Contact the writer:
402-444-1052, jane.palmer@owh.com
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