Josiah K. Lilly, Sr.

Josiah K. Lilly, Sr.

Lilly, c. 1911
Born (1861-11-18)November 18, 1861
Greencastle, Indiana
Died January 1, 1948(1948-01-01) (aged 86)
Alma mater Philadelphia School of Pharmacy
Occupation Pharmaceutical chemist; industrialist; philanthropist
Home town Indianapolis, Indiana
Title President of Eli Lilly & co.
Term 1890–1922
Political party Republican
Board member of Lilly Endowment
Religion Methodist
Spouse(s) Lilly Ridgley
Awards Remington medal, 1942
Signature

Josiah Kirby Lilly, Sr. (November 18, 1861 – January 1, 1948) was a pharmaceutical industrialist, philanthropist, and President of Eli Lilly and Company.

Early life

Josiah Kirby Lilly was born on November 18, 1861 in Greencastle, Indiana, to Eli, a pharmacist, and Emily (née Lemen) Lilly.[1] His father enlisted in the Union army and was away during his birth. His father returned home and first saw him in 1863. He had an unsettled childhood, and was frequently moved around. His family moved to Mississippi in 1865, where his father worked a cotton plantation. He and his parents where stricken with malaria in 1866. He and his father recovered, but his eight-month-pregnant mother died on August 20. His father was devastated by the death, and the plantation fell into disrepair, requiring him to file bankruptcy. Lilly was sent to live with his grandparents, Gustavus and Esther Lilly, in Greencastle while his father attempted to reverse the family's fortunes.[2]

Lilly was a shy and sensitive boy, and found life difficult with his grandparents. He was often scared, and feared many of the farm animals. His father remarried in 1869 to Maria Cynthia Sloan, and Lilly was returned to his father's guardianship. His father had opened a new pharmacy in Paris, Illinois, and Lilly lived there until moving to Indianapolis in 1873. His father opened a new business, Eli Lilly and Company, in 1876 and Lilly, at age 14, quit school to work in the laboratory.[3]

Philadelphia School of Pharmacy and marriage

Eli Lilly and Company became a very successful business and in 1880, his father asked him to attend a college to get technical expertise to help the business better. He agreed and was sent to attend the Philadelphia School of Pharmacy (now known as the University of the Sciences). During his time at school he met Lilly Ridgley of Lexington, Kentucky. The couple was married on November 18, 1882. Upon his graduation and return in 1882, his father made him superintendent of the laboratory. By 1890, the company had grown into one of the largest in Indiana and have several hundred employees. Eli Lilly retired from the business to focus on charitable and civic pursuits and turned the company over to Lilly to manage. The 1890s where a time of an economic downturn, but through Lilly's leadership the company successfully survived the recession and continued to grow.[3]

Lilly's first son, Eli Lilly Jr., was born on April 1, 1885. His second son Josiah K. Lilly Jr., was born September 25, 1893. Eli Lilly died in 1898, and Josiah inherited the family's fortune and business, becoming a wealthy millionaire.[3] He continued to grow the business, which saw considerable growth during the 1910s. The company continued to advance production automation, while the research department made small advances. Before retiring from the company in 1922, he began a partnership with a Toronto firm (Connaught Anti-toxin Laboratories) that would result in the creation of insulin a few years later. His son Eli succeeded him as president of the company, while Lilly focused more of his time on philanthropy.[4]

Philanthropy

Lilly, Sr. founded the Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc. along with his sons, Josiah K. Lilly Jr. and Eli Lilly, in 1938. He managed the endowment for several years.

Lilly, Sr. began collection of Stephen Foster music upon the former's retirement in 1932, at his Indianapolis property later named Foster Hall.[5] In December 1933, Lilly published the Foster Hall Reproductions, a collection of 224 sheet music facsimiles of Foster's music, described as the first Gesamtausgaben ("collected works") of an American musical artist.[6] According to Mariana Whitmer of American Music, in response to what Lilly viewed as a "small and distorted" sample of Foster recordings, Lilly commissioned Foster Hall Recordings, a 96-disc set that contained "the complete works of Stephen Foster as ... known in 1933".[7] Lilly donated his Foster Hall collection to the University of Pittsburgh in 1937,[8] which, under Fletcher Hodges, Jr., whom Lilly hired to help with the Foster collection and who curated the university's Foster archive at its Stephen Foster Memorial for fifty-one years,[9] contained approximately 30,000 documents as of 2006.[10] He won the Remington medal, awarded to "the individual" who "contributed most during the year to the advancement of the profession of pharmacy or whose contributions over a period of years are worthy of recognition," in 1942.[11][12]

Citations

  1. ↑ Albert Nelson Marquis, ed. (1916). "Lilly, Josiah Kirby". Who's Who in America: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women of the United States. A. N. Marquis & Company. p. 1482.
  2. ↑ Madison, pp. 5–6
  3. 1 2 3 Madison, p. 6
  4. ↑ Madison, p. 24
  5. ↑ Whitmer 2012, p. 328
  6. ↑ Whitmer 2012, pp. 330–331
  7. ↑ Whitmer 2012, p. 335
  8. ↑ Blake, Sharon (February 7, 1999). "Pitt Honors Founding Curator of Stephen Foster Collection". University of Pittsburgh.
  9. ↑ Hoover, Bob (March 14, 2006). "Obituary: Fletcher Hodges Jr.: Helped to preserve the music of Stephen Foster". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Block Communications).
  10. ↑ Bernstein, Adam (March 21, 2006). "Fletcher Hodges Jr., 99". Los Angeles Times.
  11. ↑ "Josiah K. Lilly Named Remington Medallist for 1942" (PDF). Journal of the American Pharmacists Association. 1942. pp. 312–313.
  12. ↑ Kremers, Edward; Sonnedecker, Glenn; Urdang, George (1986). Kremers and Urdang's History of Pharmacy. American Institute of the History of Pharmacy. p. 470. ISBN 0-931292-17-4.

References

Further reading

Preceded by
Eli Lilly		 President of the Eli Lilly and Company
1898-1932 		Succeeded by
Eli Lilly Jr.


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