ACPHS alumnus, former trustee and faculty member David Kile ‘74, described as an innovator, leader and “gentle giant,” died on Oct. 6 at age 72.
His history with the College began more than 50 years ago, when he attended Albany College of Pharmacy, and culminated last spring, when he continued to teach classes after retiring from the faculty in 2022. He was also the parent of an alumna, Sarah Kile ‘01, a member of the College’s Board of Trustees from 2003 to 2009 and a friend who maintained close ties with a group of seven other ACP classmates – four couples who met in college and married each other.
Between his graduation in 1974 and his return to ACPHS to teach in 2009, Kile worked primarily in hospital pharmacy, serving as director of the pharmacies at St. Mary’s Hospital in Troy and Ellis Hospital in Schenectady, after spending his early career in Vermont. But his return to the College to teach may have been the highlight of his professional life, according to his wife.
“When he moved over to the College, that was the best thing ever,” Susan Kile said. “He absolutely loved teaching. He loved touching the students’ lives.”
The campus that the Kiles attended in the early 1970s was far different than it is now. ACP consisted of one building – the O’Brien Building – and did not have its own dormitories. Few students had their own cars. It was a big deal when, the year their class graduated, there were more female than male first-year students, for the very first time in the College’s history. There was also a new kind of student on campus – the returning Vietnam veteran.
The Kiles got married while attending ACP, in February 1973, and also had the first of their five children, their son Jason, while in school. Susan recalled that they helped each other with the student-parent juggle – the books they read to Jason were their textbooks; they made suppositories for class on their Madison Avenue apartment’s coffee table. They both had laboratory jobs their final year. Sometimes David would wait at Ralph’s, the former tavern on the corner of Madison and New Scotland avenues, for Susan to finish her shift, with Jason in his infant seat on the bar.
Susan and David Kiles’ 1974 photo with their son Jason in the Alembic Pharmakon yearbook
The Kiles became a model of maturity for the rest of their close-knit friend group, according to Mike Osborne ’74, who remained in contact with the couple throughout their lifetimes.
“They were a very stable couple, a very loving couple,” Osborne said. “They helped us to grow into adulthood because of their relationship.”
While friends described David as a serious rule follower, he could also reportedly get into a little mischief. Their memories include some shenanigans – a story that Osborne told included running from school authorities during a fraternity initiation, and Nancy Phillips ’74 shared this favorite yarn:
“One day during our 1969-1970 freshman year, it looked like we would be a bit late for one of our morning classes. I recall Dave driving us to ACP that day in fellow “dormster” Sheila’s VW bug. He did something totally uncharacteristic … To save a few minutes and hopefully get us to class on time, Dave decided to drive the car along the straightest route to the ACP parking lot.
That just happened to take us over a few curbs and directly across the CBA [Christian Brothers Academy] football field.”
After graduation, the Kiles moved to Vermont because they were able to get licensed there without post-graduate internships – which, as parents, they were challenged to complete. Susan took a job in retail pharmacy, where she could work part time, and David in hospital pharmacy. David’s path was the less lucrative option, Susan said, but he was committed to hospital care; that’s where the sickest patients were and where innovations happened. And the latter impulse – to innovate, modernize and stay technologically current – was always a driver for David.
Although both pharmacists, their marriage was successful in part because they did not bring their work home, Susan said. There was one exception – he was always her researcher. If she wanted to know something about a drug that was new to her, she called David.
The couple returned to the Capital Region in 1984, with two children and twins on the way. David became pharmacy director at St. Mary’s Hospital in Troy, Susan’s hometown. In 1993, he moved to the pharmacy at Ellis Hospital in Schenectady, setting up its first computer systems and instituting unit dosing, to better control the dispensing of medications to patients.
“Dave Kile’s pharmacy career spanned the 50 most dramatic, fast-paced, innovative and sometimes controversial years in modern pharmacy history.” Osborne said. “He not only kept up with the sweeping changes that were occurring but at times was even ahead of the curve.”
That tendency to innovate continued when David returned to ACPHS to teach. His roles included continuing education and professional development, said Dr. Darren Grabe ’93, chair of the Department of Pharmacy Practice. He was also instrumental in helping the College establish its two student-operated pharmacies, for which there were few models nationwide.
With then Dean of Pharmacy Angela Dominelli ‘78, he coached students in regional business competitions and taught leadership. Dominelli said she and Kile were demanding, often pushing students past what they were prepared to do. In the end, ACPHS’ showing usually impressed community leaders, who did not expect pharmacy students to come out on top in business. And the students? “They went far beyond what they thought they could ever do,” Dominelli said.
In the area of leadership, she added, Kile taught by example. Dominelli recalled an exercise that had been Kile’s idea, where the students discussed film clips of leaders for a series called “Profiles in Leadership.” When a student’s presentation moved both Dominelli and Kile to tears, Kile showed what Dominelli described as true leadership – by not hiding it.
“Dave was what you call a gentle giant,” Dominelli said. “He was a dignified, reserved man, and he was a very strong man with intensive leadership skills.”
His friend Mike Osborne referred to Kile as “the whole package.”
“He came to ACP as an 18-year-old student, fresh out of high school and ready to fulfill himself, as a student yes, but also as a person, a person who became a roommate, a friend, a husband and father, all the time developing himself as a respected health care professional,” he said. “It takes a strong, intellectual and balanced person to achieve all of those things.”
David Kile was well and teaching part-time at the College in the Spring of 2023 but began to feel ill by the semester’s end, Susan said. In keeping with his character, friends and colleagues were not aware of the illness at the time. He passed away peacefully on Oct. 6, at Albany Medical Center Hospital, surrounded by family.
Lifelong friends at ACPHS Reunion 2022, l-r: Nancy Phillips ‘74, Hank Miller ‘74, Susan Kile ‘74, David Kile ‘74, Jack Daley, Kandy Daley ‘74
(Photo courtesy of Nancy Phillips)