VALE GEORGE ECKERT
1931 - 2004

Editor's Note:
George Eckert was a charismatic individual who had the ability to not just "teach" university students, but to "learn" them.

I too, include myself as being one of those fortunate students at Sydney University in the late 1950's, able to attend lectures in pharmacology, presented by George.

He had the capacity to make his lectures so interesting and entertaining that time simply flew, and you then realised you had not taken down a single note.

But you mentally retained his information in every vivid detail.

For me, the weekly pharmacology lecture was not to be missed, and my biggest disappointment occurred when he announced that we had finished the curriculum some months ahead of schedule.

George became a legend in his own time and his passing will be felt by many of his former students, many of who, like myself, knew him only momentarily, but retained the memory lifelong.
The following are tributes from family members, arranged through Con Berbatis (a close associate), who is preparing a more detailed history of this important Australian pharmacist.
It is my privilege to be able to present this material to readers of i2P, many who I am sure, have a similar memory of George.

George Michael Eckert 24-10-31 - 17-05-04.
Part 1. Origins and outcomes By sister-in-law Mel Sutherland

In the past week, as I've called people to inform them of George's illness and then of his death, I have so often heard the phrase "If it wasn't for George……." "If it wasn't for George, I wouldn't have passed Chemistry." "If it wasn't for George, I wouldn't have passed Pharmacy"; "If it wasn't for George, I wouldn't be a doctor". So, let us look at the life of this great man.

The elder son of a German father and a Scottish mother, George graduated from Sydney Boys' High School in 1948. He studied Pharmacy at the University of Sydney from 1949-51, then during the 50's completed his Bachelor of Science degree, was a relieving pharmacist, started a Master of Science degree, then changed to Medicine.

During the 60's, he completed his MBBS with Honours, spent a year in Europe with his family, completed his junior residency, by 1969 was doing research on anti-cancer drugs, and completed his Master of Science degree.

In the seventies, George worked as a clinical Pharmacologist, first at St. Vincent's Hospital, then in his own unit at Sydney Hospital. He transferred to St. George Hospital during the 1980s. During his Sydney Hospital years, George supervised Master of Science students, and worked professionally with some of these students in the 1980's.

In 1980, George was awarded his PhD, for a thesis entitled "The Evaluation of Drug Therapy in a Hospital Setting".

In 1988, he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Medicine for his thesis entitled "Electrochemical Investigations of Drug Interactions and Compatibilities". The examiners stated "This thesis is to be highly commended, as it is so novel. It is so far ahead of the prevailing orthodoxy conceptually that it is not likely to be understood or appreciated until there is a broadening of pharmaceutical and pharmacological training."

George's response was " Means they couldn't understand a word of it!"

Stating these academic achievements, though, gives little indication of George Eckert's influence. He is responsible for changing methods of costing and prescribing drugs in hospitals and instituting practices that have now been adopted worldwide. He influenced the flow of information about drugs, believing that the people who administer them, and the people who use them, were all entitled to more information than they were getting. He engaged in "counter-detailing" as he called it, giving practitioners a view of drugs separate to that supplied by drug companies, and often at odds with it.

He was fearless and stunningly well-informed in his determination to change hospital drug administration for the better, and he has left a valuable legacy.

This is a formidable list of achievements by any standard, yet it is not what brings so many people here today. It is not what reduced so many to tears on his passing. For George was more than this. He was mentor, teacher, friend, to untold numbers. His ability to teach was legendary. He coached informally, then lectured at Sydney University, from his very early student days in Pharmacology, even then inspiring the students to question and challenge rather than just absorb information. Students coached by him have remained friends for life.

George Eckert has influenced two generations of doctors, dentists, and pharmacists through coaching and lecturing, and many of these are now uttering the phrase "If it weren't for George…."

But to talk of George's professional interests is to acknowledge only a small part of George. He was the rare polymath. He had an encyclopaedic knowledge of history (ancient and modern), music, opera, film, chess, cricket: he was a talented illustrator …in the words of his colleague Wendy Wheatley, "George understood how the world worked."

Lastly, "if it wasn't for George" - Tess wouldn't have had her life companion for the last 23 years. We welcomed this generous man into our family, and he was interested in everyone. He found a common interest with each member of our family, and for almost any subject that any of us might ponder, the solution was always "Ask George". He shared his intellectual, cultural and sporting interests with Tess, and with all who were interested, and never denigrated anyone's lack of knowledge.

There IS no way to satisfactorily summarise all the facets of the life of George Michael Eckert. Let us take our own precious memories of him, remember his many skills and be thankful that we knew him. His influence lives on.

George Eckert (1931-2004). 2. Learning with George in the 50s and 60s

Jim Eckert remembers....Dr Jim Eckert is George's younger brother , a pharmacy graduate and retired University of Sydney chemistry lecturer.

Before he was 30, George had spent almost a decade coaching final year Pharmacy students and lecturing first years in Chemistry at Sydney University. And having the best time of his professional life.
The coaching classes were held five nights a week above Alf West's chemist shop in Crown Street, Surry Hills, then up the road at 478 and later on in a rambling old terrace house opposite Green Park in Burton Street, Darlinghurst. These were rough areas in the 1950s. I recall a local brothel owner sending around a couple of his boys to see if the stream of young men and women was a sign of new competition; and the night someone coming out of the Clock Hotel went through a plate-glass window of the shop next door. The Clock was not a place with carpet on the floor in those days.
When I was in Mat Med, I went along a night a week to Crown Street. There were 200 or more in my year at Uni and half of them went to George every week for coaching. Each class lasted two and a half hours and the short break in the middle was like interval at the pictures. It was always a great night out.
As the exams loomed, his advice was a safety net. "Read the question and answer it, not some other question", "Timing is critical", "The calc is the key", "Help the examiner", "Don't be vague where you can be definite", "Use shop knowledge". And much more.
By day, George lectured Chemistry at the Uni and I watched many of his lectures from the back. He was 24 when he gave his first University lecture, not much older than those in the class, and he controlled, instructed and entertained with apparent ease.
In the years since then, I've seen many fine teachers in action, but no one to match him.
The photo shown here was taken in the mid-50s and captures the time, the place and the personality.