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Benjamin On 17 May, Cyril Arthur Benjamin, MRPharmS, of 82 High Ash
Cresent, Leeds LS17 8RJ. Mr Benjamin registered in 1942. He was a former
chairman of the Leeds Branch of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (see
Tribute).
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Tribute
Benjamin In a tribute to
the late Cyril
Arthur Benjamin, MURRAY WINER writes:
Cyril Benjamin was one of
the last practitioners of his day to have that dual and quaint profession
of the high street,
the chemist-optician. He qualified at what was then the College of Pharmacy
of Leeds Medical School, and then proceeded to take the examination for
membership of the former Institute of Chemists and Opticians. He practised
both professions of refraction and remedy with great poise and dignity
in the two areas of Leeds which were fortunate to benefit from his skills.
I entrusted Cyril with my eyesight correction over many years. Sufficient
to say that I saw pharmacy through his lenses of single vision, then
bifocal and
finally variable focus. His advice gave me the confidence to have lens implants
for correcting double cataracts and restoring
6/6 vision. This achievement I regard as his personal memorial to me.
Cyril had a great sense of humour. He would say that the successful result of
an eye test did not rest on the manipulation of his ophthalmoscope but on the
nose and ears of the patient — and comfortably so. He would be highly amused
if he had anticipated that this anecdote would be finally repeated in The
Journal.
Through the Letters to the editor pages of The Journal, he was a vigorous campaigner
for clear labelling, particularly expiry dates on original pharmaceutical packaging
and he was equally robust in his criticisms of advertisements in the general
press which had small print caveats. He was a long-standing member of the committee
of the Society’s Leeds branch and its chairman in 1982–83.
He was a founder member, trustee and chairman of the Leeds Jewish Pharmacists’ Association
and played a pivotal role in generating funds for pharmaceutical charities.
Even in his latter invalid state, he was profoundly interested in current pharmacy
affairs and at pains to record his vote in the last Council election. My visits
invariably included the weekly discussion on events reported in The Journal.
His younger brother Irving, who was manager at John Bell & Croyden and an
adviser to the Home Office on drug dependency, predeceased him.
My thoughts are those of the Leeds branch, his colleagues and friends, and our
sympathy goes to his wife Florrie, whose devoted care ensured that Cyril passed
away peacefully and comfortably in his own home; to his sons Michael, Gerald,
Lawrence and his sister Molly, and their families, who were with him at the end.
I have lost a good friend and a wise counsellor. Pharmacy has lost a good servant
and a true ambassador.
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal