204 
William  J.  Jenks. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May,  1905. 
the  recognized  ability  and  character  of  Mr.  Jenks  gained  many 
friends  and  customers.  At  the  commencement  of  the  Civil  War, 
the  firm  met  with  financial  embarrassment  and  Mr.  Ogden  then 
retired.  A  new  partnership  with  Elwood  Middleton  was  then 
formed,  and  the  firm  of  Jenks  &  Middleton  carried  on  the  business  for 
several  years.  After  the  dissolution  of  the  latter  firm,  Mr.  Jenks 
continued  in  the  business  at  the  same  location  until  1887,  when, 
finding  the  jobbing  business  no  longer  satisfactory,  he  removed  to 
4043-4045  Market  Street,  and  devoted  himself  exclusively  to  the 
retail  drug  trade,  being  actively  engaged  therein  until  incapacitated 
by  his  final  illness. 
William  J.  Jenks  became  a  member  of  the  Philadelphia  College 
of  Pharmacy  in  1846,  and  the  same  year  was  elected  as  a  trustee. 
He  remained  continually  thereafter,  for  fifty-eight  years,  a  member 
of  the  Board  of  Trustees.  For  a  number  of  years  he  was  secretary 
of  the  college,  then  second  vice-president,  and  he  was  first  vice- 
president  at  the  time  of  his  decease.  On  March  26,  1900,  he  was 
elected  president  of  the  college  to  succeed  Charles  Bullock.  He 
immediately  resigned,  and  in  eloquent  and  appropriate  language 
expressed  his  appreciation  of  the  honor  intended  and  the  compli- 
ment paid  by  his  fellow-members  to  his  years  of  service,  but  he  was 
firm  in  his  conviction  that  the  conditions  now  called  for  a  younger 
man  of  energy  and  aggression,  and  his  interest  in  the  progress  of 
the  college,  as  well  as  his  increasing  years,  admonished  him  against 
accepting  the  honor  and  duties  of  the  office. 
Shortly  after  his  election  as  a  trustee,  Mr.  Jenks  was  appointed  a 
member  of  the  Committee  on  Examination,  and  was  soon  made 
the  chairman,  which  position  he  held  until  1887.  As  chairman  it 
became  his  duty  to  collect  and  arrange  the  committee  questions  and 
specimens.  He  took  great  pride  in  this  work  and  was  especially 
pleased  in  noting  the  increase  in  the  number  of  students.  "  His 
boys,"  as  he  called  them,  were  ever  near  to  his  heart. 
It  was  in  the  work  of  this  committee  that  he  came  in  contact 
with  the  students  and  became  endeared  to  them.  His  always 
pleasant,  smiling,  happy  countenance  during  the  examinations, 
proved  an  inspiration  to  many  a  student  nervous  over  the  finals, 
and  restored  confidence  and  natural  ability.  Many  are  to-day  cher- 
ishing the  memory  of  the  "Grand  Old  Man"  and  his  reassuring 
smile,  who  happened  along  with  a  pleasant  word  of  encouragement 
just  at  the  right  time. 
