Creator of toothache medicine 'Orajel' dies at 103
Source: Agencies |
May 7, 2013, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE creator of Orajel, a medicine aimed at fighting toothaches that was later also used for mouth sores, has died. David Morris Kern was 103.
Allan Kern, his son, said his father died peacefully last Friday at a group home in Paradise Valley, Arizona.
Born in 1909 in Manhattan and raised in Brooklyn, Kern graduated from the Brooklyn College of Pharmacy and worked as a pharmacist before becoming a salesman for Norwich and Warner Pharmaceuticals. After buying a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility with his brother and two partners, he created Orajel with the help of a chemistry professor. Kern would later tell family members that he developed Orajel because he sought to find relief for teething babies.
"It was the No. 1 product for toothaches for years," said Allan Kern. "He was really proud of it."
The elder Kern later sold the company to Del Laboratories in 1961, and moved to the Phoenix-area in the 1990s with his wife, Rose Ziedenweber Kern. The couple was married for 65 years until her death in 2001.
Kern retired from his pharmaceutical career at the age of 62 and later turned to managing the family finances, Allan Kern said.
Daughter-in-law Carol Kern said in retirement Kern bragged that he had great genes which allowed him to live past 100 years.
"I said during a toast on his 100th birthday that he'd say his secret to a long life was having a martini every day and not eating green vegetables," she said.
Allan Kern, his son, said his father died peacefully last Friday at a group home in Paradise Valley, Arizona.
Born in 1909 in Manhattan and raised in Brooklyn, Kern graduated from the Brooklyn College of Pharmacy and worked as a pharmacist before becoming a salesman for Norwich and Warner Pharmaceuticals. After buying a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility with his brother and two partners, he created Orajel with the help of a chemistry professor. Kern would later tell family members that he developed Orajel because he sought to find relief for teething babies.
"It was the No. 1 product for toothaches for years," said Allan Kern. "He was really proud of it."
The elder Kern later sold the company to Del Laboratories in 1961, and moved to the Phoenix-area in the 1990s with his wife, Rose Ziedenweber Kern. The couple was married for 65 years until her death in 2001.
Kern retired from his pharmaceutical career at the age of 62 and later turned to managing the family finances, Allan Kern said.
Daughter-in-law Carol Kern said in retirement Kern bragged that he had great genes which allowed him to live past 100 years.
"I said during a toast on his 100th birthday that he'd say his secret to a long life was having a martini every day and not eating green vegetables," she said.
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