Glenn Herbert Hamor

Dr. Glenn H. Hamor was born in Kootenai , Idaho on May 14, 1920 . His family soon moved to Missoula, Montana where he grew up fly fishing and hiking. Glenn had an interest in both reading and chemistry from an early age. He set off a stink bomb in the school science lab from instructions he read in a book he checked out from the local public library. Glenn spent some of his boyhood summers on Aunt Carrie and Uncle Mac's cattle ranch near Browning, Montana, where he learned how to fly fish and how to rope a calf. Other summers were spent at the North Fork of the Flathead River on the Hamor family homestead which is now part of Glacier National Park . Glenn's father, Samuel Clark Hamor, and his mother, Della Mae Shoop, homesteaded the land in 1912.

Glenn studied medical chemistry at the University of Montana and graduated in 1941 with a pharmacy degree. He worked as a registered pharmacist in Ennis, Montana until duty in World War II called. Glenn served as a medical technician in the U.S. Army 13th Airborne Division in France . Although he was fed steak dinners several times in preparation for his glider being dropped on Berlin, Glenn's was the only one of the 5 airborne divisions not to see combat. After the war, Glenn received a Masters Degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Montana and began his teaching career there in 1947. Glenn married Eileen Deegan on September 7, 1947 . Eileen also grew up in Missoula and graduated from the University of Montana in political science and history. They spent their honeymoon in a log cabin on Eileen's family homestead in Swan Valley. In 1952, Glenn received his PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Minnesota, and came directly to the University of Southern California as an assistant professor in the School of Pharmacy.

Glenn was the first USC professor to receive a four-year grant from the National Institute of Health for his study on anti-epileptic drugs. He held three patents on "potential anti-epileptic" drugs. Glenn received a Pfieffer Memorial Research professorship at the University of Trieste, Italy, School of Pharmacy where he taught for one year. He was also a visiting professor at the Trinity College School of Pharmacy in Dublin, Ireland for one semester.

After retiring from USC in 1988, he and his wife Eileen enjoyed spending time with their four children and their seven grandchildren. They also enjoyed rooting for the Trojans, reading and hiking, and once walked the original Greek Marathon route in eight hours (with frequent stops for coffee to watch the runners go by). Glenn was an active member of the Jane Austen Society for many years. Glenn's combined interest in science and literature spurred him to travel throughout the United States and Europe lecturing on medicines and herbal remedies used in the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and medicines that appear in the literary works of Marcel Proust and of Richard Armour. Glenn and Eileen led the USC Retired Faculty Book Club for most of the last two decades.

Glenn, a member of Visitation Parish in Westchester, California for 54 years, died at home on November 23, 2009 at the age of 89. He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Eileen Deegan Hamor; daughter, Patricia Hamor; daughter, Ellen Roehl; daughter, Kathleen Hamor; son, Tim Hamor; son-in-law, Jeff Roehl; daughter-in-law, Lisa Hamor; and by 7 grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to: "The USC Newman Guild" at USC Catholic Center, 3207 University Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90007. 213-749-5341