The Leon and Betty George Endowed Scholarship Fund
Leon George graduated in 1954 from the University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy. That same year, he married Betty Thomas and settled in Blythewood, South Carolina, where they would raise their five children – Michael, Mel, Mark, Mary Elizabeth and Melissa.
Leon began his pharmacy career at Campbell’s Drugs while still in college, as a soda jerk and pharmacy deliveryman. He stayed on after graduation as an official pharmacist. A career of more than 50 years would take him to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, South Carolina Department of Mental Health, Fairfield Memorial Hospital and Columbia Regional Care Center.
Throughout his career, Leon lobbied for safe pharmacy practices through his leadership roles with the Fifth District Pharmacy Association, South Carolina Board of Pharmacy, South Carolina Pharmacy Association, Three Rivers Health System and South Carolina Board of Pharmacy Examiners. His dedication to the profession of pharmacy was much appreciated as he received multiple accolades and awards throughout his career from many of these same organizations.
More importantly, Leon and Betty instilled strong values through their faith and family.
“We grew up in a home with loving and supportive parents,” Elizabeth George Parker, their daughter, says.
Their parents’ passing, Betty in April 2019 and Leon in May 2020, encouraged their children to fondly recall their parents’ affection for Columbia and their father’s love for his alma mater, which had a tremendous impact on his successful career and has led to an endowed scholarship.
We hope that through this scholarship, many more young people will realize that they, too, can pursue the pharmacy career they can be passionate about.
Elizabeth George Parker
“It made perfect sense to endow a scholarship in our parents’ names,” says Elizabeth, noting her father would be humbled and her mother proud to help the next generation of caring pharmacists.
“We hope that through this scholarship, many more young people will realize that they, too, can pursue the pharmacy career they can be passionate about,” Elizabeth adds. “The College of Pharmacy is on the cutting edge of technology while maintaining high expectations of professionalism and compassion. Young people know the value of this incredible professional program, and it is an honor for us to assist them by endowing a scholarship.”