Various Correspondence
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Pg 10e L2 | INTERESTING FACTS FROM JOHN'LIFE EXPERIENCES **** Email dated March 2004 from John S. Cook(10) to CLifton Cook (11) You may certainly share the story, but the following, modified from a later e-mail, is a bit simpler, a bit clearer, and a bit more accurate. In 1955, the pharmaceutical company McNeil in Pennsylvania developed a painkilling product with the chemical name N-acetyl-para-aminophenol. For a generic name, the company left out the "N" and "para, " which are structural indicators rather than chemical component identifiers, and they cut off the endings of "acetyl" and "phenol" to get the generic "acetaminophen." A classmate of mine was a marketing manager at the company and had the job of finding an easily remembered commercial name. He put the endings "tyl" and "enol" back together to get Tylenol. Neat Uncle John. Original message Here is the story about my friend, SAS classmate, and roommate at the most recent reunion. It took place in 1955, but I learned it only yesterday, a week after he died. I can only guess at what he was thinking, but it looks pretty obvious. He was working as a marketing manager for McNeil, a pharmaceutical company in Pennsylvania. They developed a pain reliever as good as aspirin but with fewer side effects. Its chemical name was and is: N-acetyl-para-aminophenol. I don't know how much organic chemistry you had, but the name means that the drug is made up of an acetate group and an amino group attached to the six-membered ring of phenol. The designations "N" and "para" tell where the groups are attached to each other. The company, ignoring these structural features, omitted the parts in brackets, and came up with the generic name [N-]acet[yl-para-]aminophen[ol] = acetaminophen My friend's job, as a marketer, was to find a brand name that the customers could remember so they would come back to it. He took the opposite approach from the company and emphasized what was in the brackets: N-ace[tyl]-para-aminoph[enol] = Tylenol Neither he nor anyone else, in 1955, realized the extraordinary acceptance that Tylenol would find in the marketplace. As you know, other compounds have been added to some of its formulations for colds, arthritis, sinusitis, and even sleep. My friend's son asked if his father ever collected royalties, and the father said "No, I was just doing my job." John **** From: Skinnercook@aol.com To: ccook@netquarters.net Date: Sun, 9 Jan 2000 10:52:55 EST Subject: Adeline Ted Strange's birthday is December 9, Addie's October 14. Adeline is proud of her initials, which is why she keeps all of them. Once, when she was about 14, her father took her to a special luncheon. At the end of the meal, an elderly gentleman came up to her table as introduced himself as [Somebody] de FitzGerald and he proposed marriage. Somewhat perplexed, Adeline politely refused. He said that he understood, but he thought that she might want to take advantage of the opportunity to have the initials A.B.C. de F-G. *** Interesting note of Oct 2005 John belongs to a club called the ROMEO club which stands for Retired Old Men Eating Out. **** Email from John Samuel Cook(10) July 2000. The Bassetts is the maiden name of Right Rev Philip Cook's second wife. Lester, Acton and Sam were her brothers. Clif - I talked with Addie this morning about the Bassett's. I had forgotten the third brother, Lester. We still do not know the order of birth of the six of them. The long-surviving brother and black sheep was Acton. Lester and Sam both died in the same summer. One died of disease, possibly pneumonia; this one may have been Sam. The other, maybe Lester, drowned while swimming. According to Addie, our mother told her that our mother's father, a physician, knew that the one who drowned had a bad heart but he never told him or restricted his activities because the father wanted the son not to grow up feeling handicapped, but after the drowning accident the father was more than a little guilty. Today was the first time I ever heard that story. Addie has a box-full or maybe more of papers about the Bassett's, including photographs, and would be very pleased if you would visit her and organize this material. I think you would find that an interesting project. Dorothy and I had a wonderful time with your visit. Thank you for coming. Say Hi! to Hannah and Ben. They are great kids. J **** |
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Link to Front Page & Family Members' Names, pg 00 Link to John Samuel Cook(10), pg 10e |