Gifts invested for support purchase of materials in all formats in bio-medical sciences that facilitate basic research on the fundamental structure and functions of life, with an emphasis on the molecular and cellular levels.
Gifts invested will provide support for access to conferences, training sessions, symposia and other professional development opportunities for Health Sciences Librarians to advance their knowledge.
The fund was created in Gerry Oppenheimer’s honor through a gift from Nancy Blase, who retired from UW Libraries in 2006.
Gerry Oppenheimer was a leader in the profession of health sciences librarianship and played a key role in improving information access for health professionals across the Pacific Northwest. He worked as a librarian at the Seattle Public Library and a manager of information services at Boeing Scientific Research Laboratories. He later became head of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center at the University of Washington Libraries and finally Director of the Health Sciences Library, retiring from this position after 24 years. Gerry was most proud of how the UW Health Sciences Library grew during his tenure, his role in helping to start the Association of Academic Health Services Libraries, and his contributions to the Phi Beta Kappa Society as Executive Secretary, Alpha of Washington and Vice President, Puget Sound Association.
The Health Sciences Library (HSL) is a key health information resource for the state and Pacific Northwest Region. HSL serves faculty, staff and students in the Schools of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Dentistry, Public Health and Social Work as well as the health professionals and the general public throughout the state, region and beyond. This fund provides critical support for programs and collections. For more information regarding the Health Sciences Libraries programs and services see: hsl.uw.edu
Unrestricted funds that will be immediately usable are especially welcome for the Health Sciences Libraries programs and services as they support vital needs which may occur unexpectedly throughout the year.
Gifts invested to support UW Libraries, with preference given to maintenance of the Libraries print and digital information resources in the areas of pharmacy, medicine, and natural products and with the provision of student services and accessibility so that the University of Washington Libraries will continue to create new spaces, tools, and technology that respond to the changing ways students and faculty work in these areas now and into the future.
This endowment was created by Kenneth L. Euler who graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy and a Master of Science (Major: Pharmacognosy), and completed his Ph.D. at the University of Washington (Major: Pharmacognosy) in 1965. His dissertation involved the isolation of atromentin from the mushroom Hydnellum diabolus and the determination of the compound’s functional groups necessary for anticoagulant activity. Thus, the name of this endowment honors and reflects Dr. Euler’s plant-based research. Upon graduation, Dr. Euler spent 32 years in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Houston before retiring in 1999 and is an emeritus professor there.
Gifts invested to support meeting unrestricted needs over the years at the discretion of the Director of the Health Sciences Libraries.
Gifts invested for support to be used at the discretion of the Dean of Libraries to purchase books, periodicals, sets of collected works, paper, electronic, and all other information formats to support teaching, learning, research and clinical practice in the medical sciences of Allergy and Immunology.
Dr. Paul Parr VanArsdel, Jr., M.D. (1926-1994) joined the pioneering faculty of the University of Washington School of Medicine in 1954, as head of the Division of Allergy, a post he retained until his death. Allergy at that time was largely an imprecise science and his charge was to legitimize the study in collaboration with what was then a national scientific movement to achieve this goal. 
In addition to his own patient care and laboratory research, over the course of his career he trained more than 50 post-graduate Fellows, some of whom entered private practice, and many of whom went on to occupy chairs of Allergy at some of the nation’s most prestigious medical schools, as well as international institutions. During more than 40 years of academic practice Dr. VanArsdel published more than 150 scientific papers and an influential Allergy textbook.
Dr. VanArsdel was a designated founder of the University of Washington’s University Hospital, where he later served as Chief of Staff from 1983 to 1985. Additionally, he served on the medical staffs of Harborview Medical Center, Children’s Hospital, and the Veteran’s Administration Hospital, all located in Seattle. He also held visiting appointments at the Brompton Teaching Hospital for Bronchial Disease in London from 1977 to 1978; served as Visiting Professor of Medicine at Guy’s Hospital of the University of London from 1986 to 1987; and was a board member of the International College of Allergology.
Dr. VanArsdel was a member of the American College of Physicians; the American Academy of Allergy and Immunology (national president, 1971-1972); the Royal Society of Medicine, London; the House of Delegates of the American Medical Association (1972-1994);and the Association of American Medical Colleges. Memberships included: Phi Beta Kappa (Yale University); Sigma Xi, scientific honorary; and Alpha Omega Alpha, medical honorary. He was a graduate of Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, Class of 1950.
Gifts invested to support the purchase of books and periodicals in the bio-medical sciences.
Gifts invested to provide support at the discretion of the Dean of the University Libraries or his or her designee in the Health Sciences Library to benefit the Libraries Environmental Health Collections and related activities.
H. David Kaplan established this endowment in memory of Dr. Stanley M. Pier (1927–2010), his partner of 47 years.
Dr. Pier spent his professional working career predominantly in the field of Occupational Health and Environmental Sciences in both corporate and academic settings. He came to Seattle in 1986 where he served as Adjunct Faculty of the University of Washington’s School of Public Health and Community Medicine. In his field of toxicology, he worked with NASA on the health effects of space flight and was an international advisor on the health effects of the oil industry. His sharp wit and compassion for others brought admiration and affection from those who crossed his path.
Support the Pier Environmental Health Endowed Libraries Fund