$1.2 million gift helps bring UF Pharmacy campus to new Orlando-based Research and Academic Center

September 30, 2010

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A retired Orlando community pharmacist who donated $1.2 million to establish a University of Florida College of Pharmacy campus in Orlando will realize his dream Oct. 5 with the groundbreaking of the new UF Research and Academic Center in Lake Nona.

David L. Bean graduated from the UF College of Pharmacy in 1952, and made a pledge 50 years later to support his alma mater’s efforts to teach pharmacy students in Orlando. In recognition of his gift, the pharmacy campus — located within the new Lake Nona facility — will be named the Helen and David Bean Campus of the University of Florida College of Pharmacy, Orlando.

In 2002, the UF College of Pharmacy established three Florida campuses — in Orlando, St. Petersburg and Jacksonville — to educate and train more student pharmacists in the state. The Orlando campus, temporarily housed at the UF IFAS Mid-Florida Research and Education Center in Apopka, supports more than 200 UF doctor of pharmacy students and more than 20 faculty and staff.

“At the UF Research and Academic Center, student pharmacists will learn from talented faculty members at a state-of-the-art complex to prepare for the challenges and opportunities they will face during their careers and lifetimes,” said William H. Riffee, dean of the UF College of Pharmacy.

At the Orlando facility, the college is keeping its commitment to the state of Florida by furthering its three-prong mission of teaching, research and service. In addition to teaching pharmacy students in Orlando, the college also will advance its translational research in drug discovery and development, and its medication therapy management service to patients receiving Medicare prescription benefits, Riffee said.

The UF pharmacy programs in the UF Research and Academic Center will join an emerging biomedical research community in Lake Nona with institutions including the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, Nemours Children’s Hospital, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and the University of Central Florida College of Medicine and Health Sciences.

The Research and Academic Center also will unite researchers from the UF colleges of Medicine, Pharmacy and Liberal Arts and Sciences with colleagues at the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute at Lake Nona to identify, optimize and develop new therapies for the most devastating human diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, brain disorders and aging.

The seed of Bean’s philanthropy to support UF pharmacy education nearly 60 years later grew from humble beginnings and a $10 commercial account.

“I worked for 14 years in Orlando pharmacies, saving my money for a day when I could buy my own pharmacy,” Bean said. “In 1966, I bought the Altamonte Pharmacy for $11,000, including the previous owner’s commercial bank account.”

After 11 years in Altamonte, Bean moved his business to the Longwood Professional Center at Palm Springs Drive and State Road 434. He operated under the new Palm Springs Pharmacy for 19 more years.

Bean said he relied on his faith in God, help from friends and the hard work of his late wife, Helen, who kept his accounts in order as he expanded his business to aid doctors’ practices. He expanded his business through the development of compounding pharmacy, a technique in mixing chemical compounds to create liquids, ointments or capsules to fill prescriptions tailored to patient needs.

Through the course of his 30 years in business, the Beans had acquired a five-acre parcel in Osceola County. After his wife died in 2000, Bean initiated steps to donate the land located near Osceola Parkway and International Drive South to the University of Florida.

In 2007, the sale of this parcel brought a $1.2 million gift to the UF College of Pharmacy to begin searching for a new campus home for its Orlando students and faculty.

Bean, who plans to attend the groundbreaking along with his wife, Millie, expressed his honor in having the UF College of Pharmacy Orlando campus at Lake Nona bear the names of Helen and David Bean.

“My education from the University of Florida gave me a great opportunity to pursue a business I loved,” Bean said. “There comes a time to give back to the university, which has been so influential in my life.”