Philip Grolnick, 100, pharmacist

Philip Grolnick, 100, a retired pharmacist and drugstore owner, died Friday at his home in Cherry Hill.

In the late 1940s, Mr. Grolnick and his younger brother, Abe, opened Grolnick Drugs at Broad and Susquehanna Streets in North Philadelphia. In 1958, they moved their business to Woodbury Heights and operated Southwood Drugs until 1977. After it was sold, Mr. Grolnick continued to work at the store until he retired at 87.

The Grolnick brothers had kept "profile cards" on their customers and noted when a patient had a bad reaction to a drug, years before New Jersey began requiring pharmacists to do this. They mixed the drugs themselves and stressed personal service, which enabled them to cultivate a loyal clientele in the face of rising competition from drug chains and discount houses.

Their store also offered a soda fountain and an assortment of gift items.

Their biggest business day each year was Dec. 24, when the store accommodated a surge of last-minute Christmas shoppers, said Dan Rottenberg, a family relative. A staff of about a dozen employees gift-wrapped even the smallest present at no charge. When the employees went home at 6 p.m. to spend Christmas Eve with their families, the Grolnick brothers, who were Jewish, recruited their relatives in Philadelphia to handle the final waves of customers until the store finally closed at 11 p.m.

Mr. Grolnick was also an amateur photographer, an interest that was first kindled as a young high-school graduate when he worked for a year in the photography department of the Philadelphia Public Ledger. He developed film in his home darkroom, and his slides often won awards from the Photography Club of South Jersey, based in Moorestown.

Mr. Grolnick was born in Korets, Russia (now Ukraine), and immigrated to Philadelphia in 1912 with his family when he was 4. He graduated from Central High School and earned a degree in pharmacy from Temple University. In July 1938, he married Millicent Dorfman; she died in 1996.

From 1951 until last year, when he was 99, Mr. Grolnick presided annually at a large family Passover seder attended by as many as 40 relatives from across the country. "His family was his greatest wealth," said his daughter, Judith Cohen. In his last years, he was also a popular resident of the Saltzman House in Cherry Hill, a senior apartment complex, where more than 100 residents celebrated his 100th birthday in December.

In addition to his daughter, he is survived by a son, Norman; three grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

The funeral will be at 11:30 a.m. today at Goldsteins', Rosenberg's, Raphael-Sacks, 6410 N. Broad St., Philadelphia.