UW News

December 13, 2011

Memorial service for dean emeritus Sidney Nelson set for Dec. 17

News and Information

Memorial services for Sidney Nelson, professor of medicinal chemistry and dean emeritus of the School of Pharmacy, will be at 1 pm. on Saturday, Dec. 17, at the New Life Church at 6830 Highland Dr. in Everett. Nelson died on Friday, Dec. 9. He was 66 years old.

His family has requested that attendees wear purple in “honor of this university that he loved so much.”

Gifts can be made in his honor to the UW School of Pharmacy. To make a gift, visit www.pharmacy.washington.edu/support or contact the School of Pharmacy Office of Advancement at (206) 616-3217 or rxgiving@uw.edu. Checks can be made to the UW Foundation and sent to Claire Forster at UW School of Pharmacy, Box 357631, Seattle, WA 98195-7631.

It is hard to put into words the impact that Dr. Sid Nelson had on this school, the university, the scientific community and everyone who knew him,” said Thomas Baillie, the current dean.

“Indeed, there are just too many good things to say about Sid to encapsulate what he meant to all of us. I suppose, when it comes down to it, what we will all miss about him most was his kind spirit. Sid Nelson was a caring, genuine man who made a positive impression on everyone who had the good fortune to know him. The School of Pharmacy is not going to be the same without him. We will all remember his off-color sense of humor, his giant collection of penguin paraphernalia and his enduring authenticity.”

Nelson received a bachelors of science from the UW School of Pharmacy. He received a doctorate in medicinal chemistry from the University of California, San Francisco. He joined the UW School of Pharmacy faculty in 1977.

Nelson was dean from 1994 to 2008. Under his leadership, the school converted from a bachelors degree to an entry-level doctor of pharmacy degree program and added a nontraditional approach that enabled existing pharmacists to obtain the advanced degree. He also evolved the graduate programs and worked to expand the school’s faculty.

Individuals can sign a guest book for the family here.