Persona

Summers, Jack

1919-1994

Jack Summers was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, on October 9, 1919. In 1938, he joined the militia and enlisted in the Prince Albert and Battleford Volunteers. He transferred, in 1942, to the South Alberta Regiment of the 4th Canadian Armoured Division fighting in North West Europe, where he was awarded the Military Cross. Summers continued his military service after the war with the militia. At the time of his retirement from the militia in 1974, he had reached the rank of Brigadier General and Commander of the Prairie Militia. He also served as Honorary Lieutenant Colonel of the Saskatchewan Dragoons, Honorary Colonel of the North Saskatchewan Regiment, a member of the Saskatoon Board of Police Commissioners, and as a member of the Board of Corps Commissionaires. Summers wrote extensively on military history, coauthored the book Military Uniforms in Canada 1665-1970, and authored Tangled Web - Canadian Infantry Accoutrements 1855-1985. After returning from the war in 1946, Summers also enrolled in the College of Pharmacy, University of Saskatchewan, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy in 1949. In 1952, he completed a Master of Science degree from the State University of Iowa. Summers was a member of the faculty of the University of Saskatchewan from 1949 until 1987. He was the first director of Pharmaceutical services at the University Hospital. He was President of the Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists (1956-1957), President of the Council of the Canadian Pharmaceutical Association (1964), and President of the Association of Faculties of Pharmacy of Canada. Summers, at the time of his death remained the only pharmacist to have presided over all three associations. He also edited the Canadian Journal of Hospital Pharmacy from 1961 to 1981. Jack Summers died January 26, 1994 at the age of 74.