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GEORGE
M. BERINGER—As a practicing pharmacist, as a manufacturer of
pharmaceutical preparations and ethical medicines, as an expert in State
and Federal courts in cases involving medicines and poisons, as an editor
and author of notable repute in his profession, and as a leader in
scientific and professional societies, Dr. George M. Beringer, the
distinguished pharmacist of Camden, New Jersey, has few rivals to compete
with him for supremacy in his profession. His manifold activities cover
practically every phase of pharmacy, and whenever vital decisions
affecting the profession are to be made his suggestion or advice is
generally sought.
George
M. Beringer, who designates himself simply as chemist and pharmacist, was
born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, February 3, 1860, the son of Levi D.
and Rebecca (Reinhart) Beringer. He received his preliminary education in
the public schools and in the Central High School of Philadelphia, from
which he was graduated in 1876, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and
from which he received the Master's degree five years later.
His
early education developed a predisposition toward the sciences and he decided
to take up the drug business as a vocation. Within a few weeks after
graduating from high school he entered the employ of Bullock & Crenshaw, a
leading Philadelphia firm engaged in the wholesale and retail drug business
and in the supplying of chemicals and laboratory apparatus. Determined
to thoroughly master student detail of his chose calling, he became a student
in pharmacy and chemistry at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and was
graduated from in l880. The degree of scholarship to which this testifies is
the better realized when it is recalled that he was then only twenty years of
age. Not contented with his knowledge of analytical chemistry and the methods
of research, he took post-graduate instruction in the evenings with Dr. Henry
Leffmann, the noted chemist and toxicologist, of Philadelphia, in the doctor's
private laboratory. In 1903, in recognition of his attainments and the
valuable contributions to the various fields of science related to pharmacy,
the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy conferred upon, him the honorary degree
of Master of Pharmacy. In 1914, the University of the State of New Jersey
bestowed upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Pharmacy.
After
his graduation, George M. Beringer continued the practice of pharmacy in
Philadelphia, where he remained with his preceptors for twelve years more.
During the period he rose rapidly in the esteem of the profession, and the
important responsibilities which devolved upon him, he ably managed.
In
1892, he resigned to engage in business on his own account. He purchased the
retail pharmacy of the late Albert P. Brown, which had been established at the
northeast corner of Federal and Fifth streets, Camden, since 1862, and enjoyed
the confidence of the medical profession and the patronage of the leading
citizens of Camden City and surrounding suburban communities. This business
under the management of Mr. Beringer has been continuously developed and
expanded until it now embraces, in addition to the thoroughly equipped retail
pharmacy, a wholesale department and laboratories for the manufacture of high
class medical and pharmaceutical supplies, perfumes and toilet articles. The
demands of this growing business became such, that in 1921 it was incorporated
under the name of George M. Beringer, Inc., and properties situated at the
southeast corner of Federal and Fifth streets with a frontage of forty feet
and a depth of one hundred and forty-five feet with light and street ways on
three sides, were purchased as the site for the future home of the business
and to meet the present and future needs of the greatly expanded enterprise.
This corporation is destined to become one of the largest in the country and
its business is becoming more and more national in its scope, Dr. Beringer's
unimpeachable reputation giving the firm a standing that is of incalculable
value, in the pursuit of the manufacture and sale of pharmaceutical
preparations and reliable standard medicines.
His
scientific connections are many. In 1892 he was chosen as the director of the
Microscopical Laboratory, then conducted by the Alumni Association of the
Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, and performed the duties of this position
for two years until the association turned the laboratory over to the
botanical department of the institution. For four years (1917-1921) he was
editor of the American Journal of Pharmacy, the oldest American publication in
its field. He has served as a member of the Committee of Revision of the
United States Pharmacopoeia for the decade 1910-1920, and also during two
revisions as a member of the Committee of Revision of the National Formulary.
For a period of
twenty-eight years (1893-1921)
he was a trustee of his alma
mater, the Philadelphia
College of Pharmacy, and chairman of its board of trustees from 1910 to 1921.
In 1913-14 he was president of the American Pharmaceutical Association, which
bears the same important relations to pharmacy as the American Medical
Association bears to medicine. Of this organization he has been a member for
many years and presided at the annual meeting held in Detroit in 1914. He is a
member also of the American Chemical Society, the Academy of Natural Science
of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Botanical Club, which he served for a time
as president; the National Pharmaceutical Service Association, of which he was
president during 1917-19, the period of American participation in the World
War; and the New Jersey Pharmaceutical Association, of which he was president
in 1905; and he is an honorary member of the Pennsylvania Pharmaceutical
Association and of the Maryland Pharmaceutical Association.
Dr.
Beringer has written many articles published in current pharmaceutical
publications. He has served the State and Federal Government as chemical
expert in several noted criminal cases, as well as in civil cases requiring
special knowledge of toxicology, chemical methods and trade conditions.
He is an adherent of
Democratic principles in politics and was a member of the first Camden City
Plan Commission. He was active in the Camden Board of Trade and has been a
director in its successor, the Camden Chamber of Commerce, serving on a number
of important committees. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and
his club affiliations are the Rotary Club, the Civic Club, the Camden Club,
and the Philadelphia Botanical Club.
Dr.
Beringer married, October 3, 1882, Estella F. Wolfe, of Camden, daughter of
George Washington Wolfe and Ezilda (Rendolph) Wolfe, and they are the parents
of two children: 1. George M., Jr., born January 30, 1884, a graduate of the
Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, and now associated with his father in
business. He was formerly president of the New Jersey Pharmaceutical
Association, and member of the State Board of Pharmacy. 2. Franklin L., born
December 27, 1885, died August 9, 1907.
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