Early clinical leader Lawrence Borgsdorf dies at 67.

Abstract

Lawrence R. Borgsdorf, Pharm.D., FCSHP, who started his decades-long clinical pharmacy career as a full-time practitioner–educator in a school of medicine, died on October 14 in Bakersfield, California. He was 67 years old. The unusual employment arrangement in the 1970s made the residency-trained Borgsdorf a clinical pharmacist independent of a pharmacy department and a pharmacy school. Years later, as an ambulatory care pharmacist for the Kaiser Permanente Medical Program in his native California, he provided innovative services that caught the attention of the HMO’s physicians. He was a member of the ASHP Commission on Credentialing in 1997–2000. In 1992, he served as the president of the California Society of Hospital Pharmacists (CSHP). Two years later, CSHP recognized Borgsdorf as its Pharmacist of the Year. “He was a top-flight clinician,” said William E. Smith, Jr., who was serving as pharmacy director at Memorial Hospital Medical Center in Long Beach, California, when Borgsdorf started his career.