Richard Weaver

Retired Community Pharmacist and Academic Advisor

“It is an honor to be considered a Friend of Pharmacy. I was always a student advocate and am humbled by the impact I have made on the lives of those I counseled and mentored.”

Career Highlights

  • Awarded $650,000 in Federal grants to support Purdue minority pharmacy programs from 1972-81, and another $99,000 to establish a university wide academic support program in the Dean of Students office
  • Hired over 50 pharmacists and supervised nearly 100 pharmacists in 36 locations while employed as store operations manager at Marsh Pharmacy
  • Co-founded Open Doors which has been serving the Washington Township in Indiana for over 30 years ago
  • Helped guide Westfield Washington Schools move from an autocratic management style to a participatory style involving administrators, teachers, parents, and the community
  • In 2014, Meds4Camp impact was 1500 prescriptions for 750 campers with $20,000 in gross profit

Richard (Dick) Weaver received his BS in Pharmacy from the Purdue College of Pharmacy in 1970. He also received a master’s degree in Counseling from Purdue University and a degree in Higher Education Administration from Indiana University. After graduating, he began his professional career with the Purdue. During his time at the Purdue College of Pharmacy, he developed a student recruitment program for Purdue that included pre-pharmacy programs at most Indiana Colleges. He also started a nationally recognized minority pharmacy student recruitment program that retained 92% of the black students admitted to pharmacy. He served as an academic advisor and a member of the admissions committee.

Dick left Purdue in 1983 to practice pharmacy in staff and managerial roles at Wells- Yeager-Best, Peoples, Reliable, Rite Aid, Marsh and Walgreens, retiring in 2016. Dick served as store operations manager with Marsh Pharmacy, where he was responsible for recruitment, personnel, scheduling and pharmacy operations. Dick served on the University of Toledo pharmacy partnership board and developed a Walgreens Meds4Camp program which provided unit dose medications for campers at 10 western North Carolina residential summer camps.

Dick has always had a passion for community involvement, leading Little League Baseball in West Lafayette and serving on the Westfield Washington School Board for eight years. He authored the by-laws and served as a co-founder and president of Open Doors of Washington Township, a church-based food pantry and clothes closet for needy residents in the Westfield, Indiana area. Dick also chaired finance, trustee and mission committees at local churches and led five mission teams in Belize and Puerto Rico. His current passion is to develop and support racial equity programs in his community, Henderson county North Carolina.