By Carol R. Cool
When James C. Appleby P’87, RPh, MPH, headed off to Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, you might have expected his mother, Elizabeth "Betty" Eby Appleby P’52, to be especially proud. She was a graduate of the college, as was her late husband Fred Appleby, JR., P’53. Both of James’ grandfathers also attended PCP—his paternal grandfather Fred Bruce Appleby, SR., P’25, who owned a pharmacy in Mt. Union, Pennsylvania, and his maternal grandfather John G. Eby PhG’1907, PhC’1910, who owned a pharmacy in Merchantville, New Jersey. James would be the third generation on both sides of the family to attend the school.
 Elizabeth "Betty" Eby Appleby P’52 & James C. Appleby P’87, RPH, MPH |
Betty was busy raising six children, ages 9 to 19, when her husband died in 1974. She took over the reins of the family pharmacy. James was the youngest child, and none of the older children had entered the pharmacy profession. You might think that the pressure was on for him to attend PCP and enter the family business.
Not so, said James. “My mother was very careful not to make me, to make any of us, feel pressured to go into pharmacy. She knew my father had felt the pressure, that he had to do that, when, in fact, he had other things he loved to do.” James decided pharmacy school would be interesting, but he never went back to the family business. After graduation, James got a master’s in public health at Temple. He then returned to PCP, designing CE programs for graduates and setting the course for all his future work.
James was recruited by the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) to become director of education. “It was an opportunity to have an impact very broadly on the practice of pharmacy,” said James. By the time he moved on 17 years later, he had fi lled a variety of positions, ending as chief operating offi cer and senior vice president of business strategy and operations.
The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) then asked James to be its executive director. “As I thought about it,” he said, “the future of the United States is going to be about how we deal with our dramatically aging society. This was an opportunity to try to have an impact on our society by helping to foster good policies in the area of aging.”
Betty is truly proud of her son: “I was delighted when James decided to attend PCP, but I didn’t push him to carry on the tradition. It was entirely his choice.”
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