Fred T. Mahaffey, NABP Executive Director Emeritus, Passes

June 21, 2006 12:00 AM

It is with great sadness that we communicate the passing of Fred T. Mahaffey, RPh, PharmD(Hon), executive director emeritus of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy^® (NABP^® ), on June 19, 2006, at the age of 82. His contributions to NABP, state boards of pharmacy, and the protection of the public health were significant and established NABP as one of the leading pharmacy organizations. Dr Mahaffey will be greatly missed.
Dr Mahaffey became NABP’s third executive director in 1962. He joined NABP in 1956 as the assistant to the executive director following a term on the Missouri Board of Pharmacy. Dr Mahaffey was charged by then-Executive Director P. H. Costello and the NABP Executive Committee with developing a national licensure examination for the state boards of pharmacy. He achieved that goal and also served as the chairperson of the Advisory Committee on Examinations. During the 25 years he served as executive director/secretary he nurtured the Association from its humble beginnings of just three staff members to a growing organization that served as the national clearinghouse for licensure transfer for the state boards of pharmacy, and successfully introduced the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy Licensure Examination in 1976. He was involved in the development of the national drug code for pharmaceutical products, implemented the NABP Number for pharmacies, led national manpower studies, introduced the Federal Drug Law Examination and the Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Examination Committee^™ Certification Program, and was the relentless champion for advocating the importance of the state boards of pharmacy.
Dr Mahaffey’s leadership and contributions to the pharmacy profession continued even after his retirement in 1988 and he was awarded the coveted Hugo H. Schaefer Award by the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) in 2001 for his “outstanding voluntary contribution to society, the profession of pharmacy, and APhA.” Dr Mahaffey graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a bachelor of arts degree in zoology in 1949 and a bachelor of science degree in pharmacy from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1952. In 1973, he was awarded an honorary doctor of pharmacy degree from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.
NABP is the independent, international, and impartial Association that assists its member boards and jurisdictions in developing, implementing, and enforcing uniform standards for the purpose of protecting the public health.

Larissa Doucette