Gabriel Kavadias

Gabriel Konstantinos Kavadias, of Portsmouth, VA and Jupiter, FL, age 77, died on July 1, 2012 in West Palm Beach Florida after a brief illness. Born in New York City to Greek immigrant, Konstantinos and his wife Mary (Clipper) Kavadias. Gabe was a 1953 Graduate of Granby High School and a 1957 graduate of the George Washington University School of Pharmacy.

Just out of pharmacy school and with $65 in his pocket, Gabe applied for a job as a pharmacy clerk and eventually went on to own Irwin’s Drug Store in the Highland Park area of Portsmouth and then later in the 1970s moved to the Plaza Shopping Center on Tyre Neck Road in the Churchland section of Portsmouth, VA with another store on High Street in Portsmouth. Irwin’s was renowned in its day for providing unique books, gifts and fragrances, unheard of in drugstores at the time, and for exceptional customer service. Many customers and employees had friendships dating back decades.

Always an innovator, during the early 1970s Gabe founded Comp-U-Dose, and pioneered the use of a computer system to dispense packaged and pre-measured medications to nursing homes and other extended care facilities. This very early use of computers in dispensing patient-specific dosages of medicine provided computerized medical records and eliminated waste. The company was later acquired by Comp-U-Pharm, making Gabe’s company the largest 24 hour unit dose provider in the country.

Gabe retired in the late 1980s and from 1990-1994 he served on the Board of Visitors at Old Dominion University as a member of the University Relations Committee and was Vice Chairman of the Administration and Finance Committee.

In addition to other positions in the health care field, he held teaching positions in clinical pharmacy at the Eastern Virginia Medical School (1980) and the Medical College of Virginia at Virginia Commonwealth University (1979).

Gabe was a fellow and director of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP), the national chairman of the ASCP Organizational Affairs Council, a founder and national chairman of the ASCP Political Action Committee, co-chairman of the Virginia Academy of Consultant Pharmacists. He co-authored an article on "Aminoglycoside Use in Long Term Care Patients" for the premier issue of The Consultant Pharmacist May-June, 1986). He was the 1989 recipient of the Richard S. Berman Award.

Gabe embraced life in all its dimensions. He and Rosemary enjoyed the water, were avid sailors and scuba divers and traveled to every corner of the earth. He loved people and brought out the best in them. Gabe enjoyed nothing more than celebrating their successes and was always ready with an interesting story.

Gabe is survived by his wife, Rosemary Kavadias and they share seven children: Sabrina Kavadias, Pamela Kavadias, Stephen Kavadias and wife, Regina, Siobhan O’Connor, John O’Connor and wife, Dawn, Brennan O’Connor and wife, Denyse, Christian O’Connor and wife, Meredith. He is also survived by his grandchildren, Ann Marie Diemer, Matthew and Rennie Young, Chandler and Chelsea O’Connor, Ethan and Benjamin O’Connor and by his sister Sophie Harrigan and his two nieces, Sophie Reed and Tamara Campbell.

Family and friends will gather at Immaculate Conception Church located at 2150 Cunningham Drive, Hampton, VA 23666 on Saturday, July 14, 2012 at 11 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Gabe's name to The Foundation for Sustainable Development (www.fsdinternational.org).