Raymond Sackler
Raymond Sackler | |
|---|---|
| Born | Template:Birth date Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Died | July 17, 2017 (aged 97) |
| Occupation(s) | Doctor, entrepreneur |
| Known for | Co-owner of Purdue Pharma, development of OxyContin |
| Notable work | Purdue Pharma, OxyContin |
Raymond Sackler (February 16, 1920 – July 17, 2017) was an American doctor and entrepreneur who, alongside his brothers Arthur M. Sackler and Mortimer Sackler, took ownership of Purdue Pharma. This company is known for creating OxyContin, a medication that has played a pivotal role in the opioid epidemic in the United States.
The Sackler family significantly influenced the development of direct-to-physician pharmaceutical marketing and have been deeply implicated in the opioid crisis. Their extensive philanthropic efforts have faced criticism as attempts to improve their public image, given that these donations were funded by profits from opioid sales.
Early life
Sackler was born into a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, in 1920. He completed his secondary education at Erasmus High School and earned a bachelor's degree from New York University in 1938. Due to restrictive Jewish quota policies at prominent American medical schools, he pursued medical studies at Anderson College of Medicine in Glasgow, Scotland, between 1938 and 1940. During World War II, he stayed in Scotland, volunteering with the British Home Guard and working as a plane spotter. He later returned to the United States, where he earned his medical degree from Middlesex University School of Medicine in 1944.
In the same year, Sackler married Beverly Feldman; they had two sons, Richard S. Sackler and Jonathan D. Sackler. Beverly passed away in 2019 at the age of 95.
Medical career
After receiving certification from the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in 1957, Sackler became a Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. Together with his brothers, Arthur and Mortimer, he helped establish the Creedmoor Institute for Psychobiological Studies in New York City, which concentrated on researching schizophrenia and manic depressive psychosis.
The Sackler brothers were honored twice by the Medical Society of the State of New York for their scientific contributions. In 1998, Raymond Sackler was awarded an honorary Doctor of Law degree from the University of Cambridge.
Pharmaceutical business
Leveraging their research background, Raymond and Mortimer Sackler expanded into pharmaceutical manufacturing, research, and development enterprises. Raymond played a key role overseeing Purdue Pharma operations within the United States and Canada, as well as Mundipharma, Ltd., which managed markets across Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Purdue Pharma remained entirely under the ownership of Raymond and Mortimer’s descendants and was responsible for producing, marketing, and distributing OxyContin along with related opioid medications.
Shortly before his passing, Forbes estimated Raymond Sackler’s personal wealth at around $13 billion.
Role in the US opioid crisis
On October 30, 2017, The New Yorker published an investigative report linking Raymond Sackler and Purdue Pharma to the advent of direct pharmaceutical marketing strategies that contributed to widespread OxyContin dependency in the United States. The article assigned ethical accountability for the opioid epidemic in the United States to Raymond Sackler.
In 2019, documents revealed by the New York Times showed that in 2008 Raymond Sackler issued instructions to prioritize prescriptions based on dosage strength, encouraging higher doses. These findings were supported by evidence from a 2018 lawsuit initiated by Massachusetts attorney general Maura Healey, which accused Purdue Pharma and the Sacklers of knowingly promoting potent OxyContin formulations despite addiction dangers because it maximized financial gain. On February 1, 2019, unredacted court filings disclosed that the Sacklers directed physicians to prescribe OxyContin excessively and identified prescribers (labeled "Region Zero") who did so primarily for family profit rather than patient welfare.
Philanthropy
Through the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Foundations, Sackler and his wife Beverly made significant financial contributions to advance research across biomedical, biological, physical, and engineering sciences. Their philanthropic efforts also extended to the arts, with notable donations acknowledged by prestigious institutions such as the British Museum—home to the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Wing—the Louvre, and formerly the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, where the Sackler Wing housed the Temple of Dendur and Asian Art History centers. Nevertheless, numerous organizations have since chosen to dissociate from the family amid ongoing controversies.
In 1980, together with his brothers, Sackler played a key role in creating doctoral programs at Tufts University—now known as the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences—and at New York University School of Medicine through the establishment of the Sackler Institute of Graduate Biomedical Sciences. Additionally, he and Beverly founded the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Medical Research Centre at Cambridge University's School of Clinical Medicine, supporting its MD/PhD program alongside a dedicated cancer research project.
The Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University, sponsored by Sackler and his brothers since 1964, encompassed the Sackler School of Medicine, Maurice and Gabriel Goldschleger School of Dental Medicine, and the Sackler Institute of Molecular Medicine; these designations were removed in 2023. However, Tel Aviv University's Faculty of Exact Sciences as well as its School of Physics and Astronomy continue to bear the Sackler name. The university also manages two awards endowed by the family: The International Prize in Physical Sciences and The International Prize in Biophysics.
At Leiden University in the Netherlands, Sackler supported the Laboratory for Astrophysics that carries his name and funded the Raymond and Beverly Chair of American History. He was also pivotal in establishing and administering the New York State/American Program at Tel Aviv University’s Sackler School of Medicine, which offers a comprehensive four-year medical curriculum tailored for American students.
In 2010, The Raymond and Beverly Sackler Foundation created a Science Fund at the U.S. National Academy of Sciences to back autonomous scientific initiatives. The following year saw the launch of The Raymond and Beverly Sackler Distinguished Lecture Series in Neuroscience at Cardiff University.
On December 9, 2021, the Metropolitan Museum of Art declared it would remove the Sackler family name from seven galleries, including the space containing the Temple of Dendur. In 2022, as part of a new masterplan developed with the Sackler Foundation, the British Museum renamed its Raymond and Beverly Sackler Rooms and Wing.