Remembering UNMC supporter Joe Williams

Joe Williams, one of the University of Nebraska’s most distinguished pharmacy graduates, a former titan of the pharmaceutical industry and a steadfast supporter of the UNMC College of Pharmacy, died March 20. He was 94.

“Joe Williams was a kind, generous, giving man who will have a lasting impact on the profession of pharmacy and the pharmaceutical industry,” said Keith Olsen, PharmD, dean of the College of Pharmacy.

Joe Williams’ Schaefer Medal and Remington Medal, among the pharmacy profession’s highest honors, are on display at the College of Pharmacy.

Williams, with his wife, Millie, is the namesake of the Joseph D. & Millie E. Williams Science Hall on UNMC’s Omaha campus.

Williams served as president of the pharmaceutical giants Parke-Davis, then Warner-Lambert, “at that time the world’s largest pharmaceutical company,” said dean emeritus Courtney Fletcher, PharmD.

But Williams first became interested in pharmacy when he visited, then worked at his granddad’s drugstore in Pawnee City, Neb. “I was fascinated,” Williams once said.

He would go on to serve in the Navy during World War II, and he studied at the College of Pharmacy on the GI Bill. He became a registered pharmacist and took a job at Parke-Davis as a traveling salesman, rising steadily through the ranks. He always believed his advantage over the competition, as a salesman or as president, board chairman and CEO, was his training as a pharmacist.

“Joe Williams was my go-to story whenever I needed to ‘sell’ the UNMC College of Pharmacy,” Dr. Fletcher said.

But Williams liked to tell UNMC’s story as well: “There wasn’t a better ambassador for the UNMC College of Pharmacy or State of Nebraska than Joe Williams,” said emeritus dean of pharmacy Clarence Ueda, PharmD, PhD.

Williams served on several major national boards, including as chair of the United Negro College Fund. He was the 1980 recipient of the Remington Honor Medal, the American Pharmacists Association’s highest honor. The medal remains on display at UNMC, as does the one awarded Rufus Lyman, MD, the college’s founding dean.

“I met Joe very early in my tenure as dean — and Jean and I got to know Joe and Millie quite well,” Dr. Fletcher said. “Joe and Millie were good friends to all of the students, staff and faculty of the College of Pharmacy through the support they provided to the college. And, Joe was a good friend and advisor to me. Joe leaves an indelible imprint on pharmacy and a lasting legacy for the College of Pharmacy.”

He was a great supporter of his alma mater. His name is found not just on the Williams Science Hall, but throughout the College of Pharmacy, including scholarship funds. Williams also was instrumental in establishing the Parke-Davis Chair in Pharmaceutics, the college’s first endowed faculty chair.

He always remembered and cherished his roots, Dr. Ueda said.

Williams, on his last day with Warner-Lambert, with the company president’s access to the corporate jet, had it fly him back home to Beatrice, Neb.

College of Pharmacy faculty, staff and students gathered in 2014 to thank longtime supporters Joe and Millie Williams, and celebrate the naming of the Williams Science Hall.