Friedrich Jacob Merck

Friedrich Jacob Merck (born February 18, 1621 in Schweinfurt ; † 1678 in Darmstadt ) was a German pharmacist and founder of Engel-Apotheke, which formed the cornerstone of the pharmaceutical companies Merck KGaA and MSD Sharp & Dohme .

Life

Friedrich Jacob Merck is the son of Johann Merck (1573–1642), a respected innkeeper from Schweinfurt, who ran the “Zum Schwarzen Bären” inn and was a member of the city council. In his hometown Schweinfurt, Friedrich Jacob Merck did an apprenticeship in the Ratsapotheke. In 1641 - seven years before the end of the Thirty Years' War - he left Schweinfurt at the age of 20 because he was unable to make any professional progress in his hometown. He went to Gdansk , among other places , where he became provisional for the court pharmacy. In Wesselburen he became the owner of a pharmacy. Over the years - the exact time is not known - he came to Darmstadt. In 1668 he acquired the Second City Pharmacy there, which was founded 14 years earlier , and later became the Engel Pharmacy , with house and yard. On August 26, 1668, Friedrich Jacob Merck was granted the pharmacy privilege. The certificate says:

"... according to the order provided with good fresh medicamentis useful for one or other cures, so that no deficiency appears."

- Extract from the pharmacy privilege of 1668

Friedrich Jacob Merck died in 1678 without any descendants. Already during his lifetime he had chosen his nephew Georg Friedrich Merck as his successor.

literature

• S. Bernschneider-Reif et al: "What humans can do ..." Merck KGaA (editor), 2002 ISBN 3-00-010751-7 p. 10f.

Individual evidence

1. ^ F. Ebner and L. Lerch: From the Merckschen Engel pharmacy to a large pharmaceutical-chemical company. Photo book by E. Merck AG from 1968