Lititz (PA) Record Express - summary article published 31 Mar 2011 - Out of the Past 90 years ago - original article published 31 Mar 1921 -
"Elmer Bobst Established - Elmer H. Bobst, a native Lititz boy, at the age of thirty-six, has forged his way to the top by a recent promotion to general manager and treasurer of the largest chemical business in the world - the Hoffman-LaRoche Chemical Works.
Mr. Bobst has his headquarters in New York and is reported to receive a salary of $25,000.
He is the son of Rev. I.W. Bobst, for many years pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran church here. Elmer graduated from the Lititz High School in 1901 and attended the Franklin and Marshall Academy the following year. He was a familiarly known as "Curly," a six footer and athletic type of young man, playing football and baseball on local teams."
-----------------------------------------------
Summary news article about Elmer Holmes Bobst - published on 18 Apr 2013 in the Lititz (PA) Record Express, original full article published Thursday, 19 Apr 1973 (can be obtained from the Lititz Public Library).
"Out of the Past - 50 Years Ago - Industrialist Visits - Elmer Holmes Bobst, famed industrialist who was raised in Lititz, will visit Lititz on Sunday June 3 to be main speaker at the 150th anniversary celebration of Salem Lutheran Church at Kissel Hill.
Bobst accepted the invitation to speak at the event in honor of his father, the late Rev. I. Walton Bobst, who was pastor of the Kissel Hill Church from 1890 to 1903, according to chairman of the observance, Clarence Habecker, Habecker said that Bobst, who is chief executive of Warner-Lambert Company, will speak at a 2 p.m. service at the church. The service will be open to the public."
---------------------------------------
Elmer Holmes Bobst, United States World War I Draft Registration Cards
Name: Elmer Holmes Bobst
Event Type: Draft Registration
Event Date: 1917-1918
Event Place: Philadelphia City no 37, Pennsylvania, United States
Gender: Male
Nationality: United States
Birth Date: 16 Dec 1884
---------------------------------
Elmer H Bobst, United States Census, 1920
Name: Elmer H Bobst
Event Type: Census
Event Year: 1920
Event Place: Philadelphia Ward 38, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Gender: Male
Age: 33
Marital Status: Married
Race: White
Race (Original): White
Can Read: Yes
Can Write: Yes
Relationship to Head of Household: Head
Relationship to Head of Household (Original): Head
Own or Rent: Rent
Birth Year (Estimated): 1887
Birthplace: Maryland
Father's Birthplace: Pennsylvania
Mother's Birthplace: West Virginia
Household Role Gender Age Birthplace
Elmer H Bobst Head M 33 Maryland
Ethel R Bobst Wife F 31 Pennsylvania
E Walton Bobst Son M 11 Pennsylvania
Emma Morra Aunt F 52 Pennsylvania
Rosa M Davis Servant F 19 Virginia

Elmer Bobst, United States Social Security Death Index
Given Name: Elmer
Surname: Bobst
Birth Date: 16 December 1884
Social Security Number: XXX-XX-8786
State: New Jersey
Last Place of Residence: New York, New York
Previous Residence Postal Code: 10022
Event Date: August 1978
Age: 94
Two articles published in the Lititz (PA) Record - Express, Thursday, 10 Aug 1978.

Pgs. 1 & 19.

"A private burial service attended by members of his immediate family was held last Friday afternoon in the family lot in West Laurell Hill Cemetery, Bala Cynwood, for Elmer Holmes Bobst, who died Aug. 2 at New York University Hospital. The famed pharmaceutical pioneer and long-time patron of Lititz was 93. His death followed a long illness. A memorial service will be held in September in New York University’s Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, a 12- story library constructed as a result of an $11 million gift from Bobst.
In Lititz, Bobst’s boyhood home, those who had known Bobst mourned his death and, joined by many who knew him only by reputation, expressed admiration for the unique life and career he had carved for himself.
In tribute to Bobst, Mayor Raymond Reedy ordered the American flag in Lititz Square flown at half mast for three days. It was lowered last Friday by Police Chief George Hicks. “He was so outstanding,” Mayor Reedy said during an interview following word of Bobst’s death. “ I can’t think of anyone who can take his place.”
Love for Lititz
“He overwhelmed me with his regard for this com­munity,” the mayor said. He noted Bobst's deep love for the Lititz community and his appreciation for the way it had influenced his life. This inspired many of the generous gifts he gave here - thousands of dollars to Lititz Springs Park, the borough recreation center (named for Bobst’s father), and scholarships to Warwick High School graduates. His deep regard for the work force in this area played a large part in his decision to locate the Warner-Lambert plant in Lititz. Although he spent most of his adult life in New Jersey and New York, Bobst looked on Lititz as his hometown. He was known for his generosity, not only to this community, but to many institutions and causes in which he was interested. He was honored countless times throughout his life for his philanthropy.
His last public visit here was in May of 1975, when as honorary chairman of Lititz’s Bicentennial Cor­poration, Bobst spoke at one of the first Bicentennial events, a flag presentation in Lititz Square. Upon hearing plans for the Sound and Light Pageant planned for the summer of 1976 Bobst, familiar with this type of pageant, became the first guarantor of that major undertaking. Bobst had moved to Lititz with his family when he was six years old, remaining here to graduate from the old Lititz High School and spend one year at Franklin & Marshall College, which he attended on an athletic scholarship. His father was a Lutheran minister and had three churches or charges: at Lititz, Kissel Hill, and Neffsville.
Family Circle
At 18, Bobst went to Philadelphia and became a clerk in a drug store, eventually becoming a pharmacist and a drug salesman. He returned to Lititz frequently to visit his mother, who lived at the General Sutter Inn every summer after her husband’s death. Elmer Bobst, his mother, and his sisters, Katie and Dorothy, were warm family circle, friends relate.
Although Bobst never had a formal college education, he successfully passed two Pennsylvania State Board examinations in pharmacy and later, the Pennsylvania State Preliminary examination in law. He did this by enrolling in night (Turn to Page 19) ". . . . [The rest of the article on page 19 was about the memories his friends had about Mr. Elmer Bobst].


***************************

[pages 1 & 14]

Elmer Holmes Bobst.
Bobst Acclaimed Throughout World.
Elmer Holmes Bobst, honorary director of War­ner-Lambert Company, who died Aug. 2 at the age of 93, was an internationally known philanthropist in the fields of education and health care, and a pioneer in the pharmaceutical field.
The son of Isaac Walton Bobst, a Lutheran minister, and Alice Holmes Bobst, he was born Dec. 16, 1884 in Clearspring, Md. The Bobst family came to this country in 1732 from the Palatinate of Germany and moved to Lititz when Bobst was six years old. He graduated from Lititz High School at the age of 16 and attended Franklin and Marshall Academy on an athletic scholarship for one year.
At the age of 18, Bobst had his first taste of the drug business as a clerk in a Philadelphia drug store. Showing an early interest in the business because of his desire to study medicine, he became a pharmacist through a combination of actual experience, wide reading and home study courses. Although he had no formal college education, he not only successfully passed two Pennsylvania State Board examinations in pharmacy but also later the Pennsylvania State Preliminary examination in law. He was still a registered pharmacist at the time of his death.
From 1907 to 1910 Bobst was a salesman and prescriptionist for drug stores in Philadelphia. In 1911, he became a scientific representative and salesman for Hoffman-La Roche, Nutley, N.J.
His ability brought him rapid success: he was put in charge of sales in 1914; became general manager and treasurer in 1920; a vice-president of the company, and finally president of Hoffman-La Roche during the period 1928-44.
During these years he built the company from 34 to over 3,000 employees and was mainly responsible for its becoming one of the world’s largest manufacturers of vitamins and phar­maceutical specialties.
Warner-Lambert.
In 1945, he became president of Warner-Lambert Pharmaceutical Company (formerly Warner-Hudnut Inc.), with sales of $30 million and a deficit of $1.5 million. In 1954 he was elected chairman of the board. He resigned as chairman in 1967 and was appointed an honorary director.
Under his leadership, the sales of this world-wide pharmaceutical, optical and consumer product company grew significantly. The company’s products are now marketed in every country throughout the free world, and modem plants have been erected in 47 countries. After its merger with the Parke-Davis Company of Detroit in 1970, the Warner-Lambert Company became one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical firms with assets of more than a billion dollars. Cancer Work.
In 1945, Bobst was named national campaign chair­man and national chairman of the executive committee of the American Cancer Society. Under his guidance, the society was built from an organization that was collecting less than $600,000 to fight cancer in 1944 to an association that now raises more than $40,000,000 a year. (Turn to page 14)
Bobst was honorary life director of the Society’s board of directors and a member of the Executive and Research Committee.
His work in the field of cancer was preceded by his work in nutritional and vitamin research. He was a director of the Tom Spies Committee for Clinical Research; a director and founder member of the U.S. Committee of the World Medical Education, as well as chairman of its Northern New Jersey Committee; a member of the Medical Advisory Committee of CARE; for five years a member of the Advisory Cancer Council of the National Cancer Institute; a member of the Advisory Council of Medical Research, University of Pennsylvania, medical, veterinary and dental schools; president and director of the Speech and Rehabilitation Institute in Lancaster; chairman of the Columbia University College of Pharmacy Development Program. He was honorary chairman of the Board of the Gustavus and Louise Pfeiffer Research Foun­dation.
Over a long period of years he continuously sponsored research in the field of drug products and contributed to the development of many important drugs and to the knowledge of how the human body reacts to them.
Public Service.
He was for many years very active in various phases of public service. During World War II, he was a member of several pharmaceutical and chemical committees in Washington and also the Committee on Penicillin Development. He was chairman of the War Bond Committee of New Jersey. He was a strong advocate of the Savings Bond Payroll Deduction Plan and largely responsible for the success in selling savings bonds to employees in New Jersey. In 1945, he was singled out for recognition by the United States Treasury and presented with a special citation by the Secretary of the Treasury. He received another citation and medal for his services in 1957.
He was a trustee of Rutgers College of Phar­macy, Franklin and Mar­shall College, and an associate trustee of the University of Pennsylvania. In 1951, Bobst received the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Franklin and Marshall College, and in 1957 the degree of Doctor of Science from Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital. In 1958, he received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Rider College, Trenton, N.J. and in 1959, an honorary Doctor of Science Degree from St. Louis College of Pharmacy & Allied Science. In 1960, the president of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia, in conjunction with the Washington Board of Trade, presented him with the 1960 Health Award in recognition of his contributions in the fields of medicine and education. In 1961, Bobst received the Henry Rusby Award from the Alumni Association of Columbia University College of Pharmacy. His contributions to the profession of pharmacy have been recognized in Canada where, in 1960, he was given the first Honorary Life Membership in the Canadian Foundation for the Ad­vancement of Pharmacy and the “Man of the Year” award by the Independent Retail Druggists Association of Quebec, Canada. He received a degree, in absentia, from Chungang University, Seoul, Korea. Keeping a promise he made to the former President of Korea, Syngman Rhee, Bobst successfully un­dertook to develop a College of Pharmacy at the University of Chungang. Eight hundred students are enrolled there. Honors The degrees and honors bestowed on Bobst were countless and included;
1962 - the National Cancer Award. An honorary life member of the Society, he was recognized for his fund­raising activities on behalf of the American Cancer Society.
1964 - named honorary chairman of the board of trustees of Franklin and Marshall, having been elected by acclamation.
1965 - received the 1965 Horatio Alger Award; was elected a member of New York University’s board of trustees, and became chairman of the American Foundation of Religion and Psychiatry’s New York City campaign to raise $225,000 to support its national services to mental health.
1966 - received NYU’s Albert Gallatin Award for “exemplifying the finest altruistic virtues.”
1967 - Bobst dedicated the Elmer Holmes Bobst In­stitute of Clinical Research at Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital of Philadelphia. The Institute building has 15 stories.
1969 - received, a Doctor of Humanities degree from the University of Pennsylvania. 1969 - received the Gold Heart Award from the President of the International Cardiology Foundation for a lifetime of devoted service to many humanitarian causes in the medical field. 1971 - was the recipient of one of the two “Founders Awards” ever given by The American Cancer Society, His $11 million gift resulted in the construction of the imposing Elmer H. Bobst Library at New York University. The 12-story structure was dedicated on Dec. 16, 1972, the only major research library to have been built in New York City in 35 years. Bobst was responsible for the Worldwide Fight Against Cancer Program of the American Cancer Society, an association with cancer activities in 72 countries.
1968 - received an honorary degree of Doctor of Law from Chungang University of Korea . Presentation was made in New York City by Madam Yim, president of the University.
1973 - received the American Health Foun­dation’s “Lifeline Award.” 1973 - presented with the American Cancer Society’s Alfred P. Sloan Jr . Memorial Award, a citation honoring national leaders in cancer control. Reviewing his life in an autobiography compiled in his 88th year, the phar­maceutical pioneer wrote, “I believe that the greatest individual happiness comes from achievement, whether it be a monumental ac­complishment such as the discovery of a cure for cancer, or a private achievement of little public note, such as doing a job and living a life to the best of one’s ability. Achievement is the goal, sufficient in itself, not power or wealth or celebrity.”
Provided by contributor Dana Dancy