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Geri and Lynn Brady Preserved Medicinal Garden Legacy

Geri and Lynn Brady
Geri and Lynn Brady

As a community, we were deeply saddened to learn that Geraldine “Geri” (Walcott) Brady, the widow of Professor and former Associate Dean, Lynn Brady, ’60, passed away in March.

The legacy she and Lynn left through planned giving will live on at the UW and School of Pharmacy for decades to come. The Lynn R. Brady Endowed Scholarship Fund has supported students with high academic achievement with two full quarters of scholarship.

Geri’s substantial planned gift to the school ensures student academic excellence will be supported for many years to come and the fund will be renamed in her honor: The Lynn R. and Geraldine W. Brady Endowed Scholarship Fund. She also created the Lynn R. and Geraldine W. Brady Endowed Professorship.

Originally from Nebraska, Lynn and Geri moved to Seattle in the 1950s so that he could continue his research with Dr. Varno Tyler, a specialist in pharmacognosy, the study of medicinal drugs derived from plants and other sources.

Lynn’s time as a faculty member at UWSOP marked the transition from drugs made from plants to the production of synthetic drugs. Like his mentor, he became a national expert on medicinal plants, a passion that naturally led him to advocate for the UW Medicinal Herb Garden, the largest such garden in the Western Hemisphere.

UW Medicinal Garden Sculpted Monkeys
UW Medicinal Garden Sculpted Monkeys

Watching over the Medicinal Herb Garden was the job of two wooden monkeys, said to be copies of statues from Europe’s first medicinal garden in Padula, Italy. Over the years the monkeys were victims of pranks and vandalized. To protect them from additional peril, they were replaced by concrete versions and the original monkeys were tucked away at Geri Brady’s house for years, until they were moved to a shed near the Botany Greenhouse. Recently rediscovered, the monkey pair will return to the School of Pharmacy for a restorative break before their next home is secured. 

 

To study with UWSOP’s top faculty in health economics and outcomes, medicinal chemistry, and pharmaceutics, click here for more information about our Graduate Programs in Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmaceutics, Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research and Policy, and Biomedical Regulatory Affairs.

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