Verne Willaman

Verne Merritt Willaman, former chairman and president of Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation and a member of the executive committee and board of directors of Johnson & Johnson, died at his home in San Luis Obispo, Calif. He was 83 years old. Mr. Willaman was the son of Prescott K. and Mary Hollibaugh Willaman. His parents operated a 120-acre farm near Greenville, Pa., where he attended a one-room schoolhouse for the first eight years of his education. He graduated from Fredonia Delaware High School in Fredonia, Pa., where he played on the school basketball team and served as a class president. After high school, he attended Pennsylvania State University, where he majored in biological chemistry and graduated in 1951. Following graduation, Mr. Willaman served a tour of duty in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Franklin D. Roosevelt. Afterwards, in 1954, he joined Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation in New Jersey and rose through the executive ranks to become president in 1969 and chairman in 1976. He became a director and member of the executive committee of Johnson & Johnson in 1977 and retired in 1988. He was on the board of directors and the executive committee of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association and the board of directors of the American Federation of Pharmaceutical Education. He chaired the Somerset County Heart Fund Drive and serving as a trustee of the Somerset County Medical Center. He was a founding member of the Middlesex County Multiple Sclerosis Society and also served on the National Council of Crime and Delinquency and as a trustee of Marcus J. Lawrence Memorial Hospital in Arizona. After retirement, Verne spent time in Sedona, Ariz., and Vail, Colo., before settling in San Luis Obispo, Calif. He was one of the most generous benefactors of Pennsylvania State University. His pledged gifts helped fund the dean's chair in the Eberly College of Science, faculty chairs in the life sciences and in molecular biology, professorships and graduate fellowships. He immortalized his parents by establishing the Prescott and Mary Willaman Scholarships that assist financially needy undergraduates with a proven academic record. He also served as a volunteer leader in Penn State's capital campaigns during the 1980s and 1990s. In addition to the formal need-based scholarships Verne established at Penn State, he assisted many students throughout his life with their college financial needs. Surviving are his wife, Betty Willaman; his two children, Mark Merritt Willaman and Wendy Willaman-Renda; stepchildren, Keri Caserios and Kindi Freygang; three grandchildren; a sister-in-law, Dorothy Willaman, and two nephews, John Willaman and Dwight Willaman.