Retired Richmond pharmacist Leonard L. Edloe has again been recognized for his work in the field.

Dr. Edloe received the Chauncey I. Cooper Award from the National Pharmaceutical Association at the organization’s 69th annual convention in Atlanta last weekend for his distinguished service to the field.

The award is named for the first African-American to serve as a dean of a pharmacy school in the United States. Dr. Cooper served as dean of the Howard University College of Pharmacy from 1938 to 1972, during which he founded the NPhA and served as its first executive director.

In his acceptance speech, Dr. Edloe said he was “deeply moved” to receive the award because Dr. Cooper was dean when he earned his bachelor’s in pharmacy from Howard University in 1970 and because his father was one of the pharmacists who joined Dr. Cooper in founding the NPhA in 1947.

At the time, other pharmacy associations maintained whites-only policies.

Dr. Edloe, who earned his doctorate of pharmacy from the University of Florida in 2003, owned and operated Edloe’s Professional Pharmacies in Richmond for more than 40 years before closing the independent business four years ago.

He remains active in the field in serving as president of the American Pharmacists Association Foundation. He also was named an APhA Fellow earlier this year and received the APhA’s Hugo F. Schaefer Award in 2014. He also received the Virginia Outstanding Pharmacist Award from the Virginia Pharmacists Association in 2015.

Dr. Edloe is pastor of New Hope Fellowship in Middlesex County and is an adjunct professor of Christian Ethics at the John Leland Theological Center School of Ministry in Arlington.