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By Alex Branch

 
Burl Baker Daniel opened Daniel Drug in 1932 in a long, narrow building at the southwest corner of Montgomery and 7th streets.

The world of pharmacy was quite different back then. The Fort Worth pharmacist, who graduated from Danforth School of Pharmacy in 1925, ground foxglove plant by mortar and pestle to extract cardiac glycoside digitalis prescribed to combat congestive heart failure.

After Burl Baker Daniel died in 1969, his pharmacist son Burl Daniel Jr. ran the drugstore until 1993. A true family business for 61 years, his grandson, Burl Daniel III, recalls stocking shelves, working on the soda fountain, delivering prescriptions, and later helping Burl Jr. at the counter.

Though today chain drugstores seem to sit on every street corner, Daniel Drug still serves customers on 7th Street in the shadow of UNT Health Science Center. And by supporting the HSC College of Pharmacy, the Daniel family continues to impact the field of pharmacy.

Paige and Burl Daniel III recently made a generous gift to contribute to construction of the Interdisciplinary Research and Education Building, a cutting-edge facility on the HSC campus that is designed to promote collaborative work.

“When I saw renderings and blueprints for the new building, I was rightly impressed with the direction the university is taking,” Daniel III said.  “The students who learn there will leave prepared to be leaders in pharmacy.”

The facility will feature a Healthcare Innovations Lab that will include a medical clinic and learning center with interactive kiosks for visitors. Initial plans call for a pharmacy, exam rooms, an instructional kitchen for healthy cooking classes and a blood lab.

The five-story building will be home to the College of Pharmacy, the North Texas Eye Research Institute and the TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine. The building is funded in part by $80 million from the Texas Legislature, thanks to the advocacy of Sen. Jane Nelson and Rep. Charlie Geren.

Construction on the facility should be completed by December 2018.

It is an exciting time to support the College of Pharmacy, Daniel III said. In addition to the new building, the first class of pharmacy students will graduate from HSC this year. In 2014, Daniel III along with his brother David Daniel established the Daniel Family Endowed Scholarship for Pharmacy.

“It is a privilege for my family to support the Health Science Center,” Daniel III said.

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