Dr. Leonard L. Edloe provided a vital service to residents of Richmond’s East End, South Side and Downtown communities as a pharmacist before closing his businesses, Edloe’s Professional Pharmacies, in 2012 after more than four decades. He also ministers to others as senior pastor at New Hope Fellowship in Middlesex County and hosts a weekly radio talk show on WCLM 1450 in Richmond. He also is an adjunct professor of Christian ethics at the John B. Leland Theological Center’s School of Ministry.

The Mechanicsville resident also served on an array of civic committees focusing on the revitalization of the East End and Downtown and was the first African-American president of the Retail Merchants Association of Greater Richmond.

Now, he has added to his diverse array of community-serving commitments with his election as president of the American Pharmacists Association Foundation. Dr. Edloe was elected to the position in March in Baltimore by the foundation’s board of directors.

“Our core purpose,” Dr. Edloe says of the foundation, “is to improve health by inspiring philanthropy, research and innovation that advances pharmacists’ patient care services.”

The Washington-based nonprofit foundation is affiliated with the American Pharmacists Association (APhA), the oldest and largest national professional society of pharmacists in the United States.

Dr. Edloe has been involved with the APhA Foundation for nearly five decades. In 1968, he was the first African-American student pharmacist elected a national officer of the professional organization. In 1982, he was the second youngest pharmacist ever elected to serve on the foundation’s board of trustees. He has served in his current stint on the foundation’s board since 2012.

He says that he’s active in the foundation “because I know the importance of the development of policy for all professions. Non-involvement places your professional life in the hands of others, and sometimes those people do not value your profession at all.”

Here’s a look at this week’s Personality, Dr. Leonard L. Edloe:

Date and place of birth: July 10 in Richmond.

Alma maters with degrees: Howard University, bachelor’s degree; Virginia Union University’s Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology, master of divinity degree; and University of Florida, doctor of pharmacy degree.

Family: Wife, Serita Hamilton-Edloe, and daughter, Leonard Lenisse Edloe.

When the American Association of Pharamacists (APhA) Foundation was founded: In 1953. The American Pharmacists Association Foundation is the nonprofit supportive foundation of the American Pharmacists Association and does not have members. However, we are supported by the gifts of individuals, foundations and corporations.

Why is this organization important: It is the place where people can invest their dollars in scholarships for pharmacy students. The same holds true for those who would like to fund incentive grants that allow pharmacists to engage in new and innovative practices. The foundation also has a strong research arm that documents the value of pharmacists in today’s health care system.

Some projects of the APhAF include: The Pinnacle Awards, The Impact Care Transformation Institute, Beating Diabetes, Project Impact Immunizations and the Patient Self-Management Credential.

How many African-American pharmacists are located in the Greater Richmond area: I don’t know the exact number of African-American pharmacists in Richmond. When I finished Howard University in 1970, there were only six of us. For many years, every African-American pharmacy student at Virginia Commonwealth University spent time at Edloe’s Pharmacy. A conservative guess would be around 40.

Is the number of African-American pharmacists growing or declining? The number has increased. However our numbers in no way match our percentage of the population.

Why I entered the profession: I entered pharmacy because of the great father I had, who was also a pharmacist. When I was in the third grade, I decided to become a pharmacist. He gave me a white coat, which I proudly wore as a boy and young man.

Advice to aspiring pharmacists: Expose yourselves to as many areas of the profession as possible. There are so many opportunities other than the traditional roles in community and hospital pharmacies.

Role of pharmacists in the community: To be the most accessible health care professional. We should make sure each patient has the correct medicine, the correct dose and be on the lowest number of medicines, while at the same time providing the patient with the highest quality of life possible. Pharmacists should make sure the patient understands both his medication, how that medication helps control his or her medical condition and any side effects that might result from drug therapy. The pharmacist should serve as the referral person when the patient is not responding to medical treatment or is seeking advice and needs the services of a primary care provider. The pharmacist should be looked to as the drug expert.

Thoughts on Virginia lawmakers approving SB701 allowing for the production of medical marijuana. (Last year, the legislature approved a bill signed by Gov. Terry McAuliffe that allowed the use of marijuana oil for the treatment of intractable epilepsy.): SB701 is a step in the right direction. Marijuana has been used since ancient China for medical treatment. The regulation of this drug is based on the prohibition laws of the 1920s and had little if any scientific basis. Am I endorsing the recreational use of the drug? No. However, I feel that the evidence is there for its use as a medicinal agent.

Definition of a leader: A leader is a person who surrounds himself or herself with good people and gets all of them to do their best to accomplish the team’s mission.

I’m driven by: The desire for excellence and the fact that because the Lord has allowed me to live through a near fatal illness, being robbed by one of Richmond’s most notorious murderers and surviving two near fatal automobile accidents, I need to live life to the fullest each and every day.

Perfect day: With the cardiovascular health history of my family, my brother died at 54 of a heart attack and my sister at 60 from the same, every day I wake up is a perfect day. Making the difference in the life of someone else makes that day even better.

Perfect evening: On the deck after fixing dinner on the grill and enjoying it with my wife.

How I unwind: By reading.

Hobby: Reading and music and listening to, singing with or playing the organ. I also enjoy working out on a regular basis.

Prized possession: The Bible my parents gave me in 1956.

Nobody knows I’m: A classically trained singer and sang with Donny Hathaway and Jessye Norman at Howard University.

The best thing my parents ever taught me was: Be the best at being yourself.

Best late-night snack: For health reasons, I do not do eat late night snacks. I try not to eat after 5 p.m.

Person who influenced me the most: I feel that men are best influenced by men and I am thankful for all the men who have made a different in the various stages of my life. Leonard Lacy Edloe, my father; the Rev. Jeff Harris, my uncle and AME pastor; Dean Chauncey Cooper, Howard University; Dr. William Apple, APhA; Dr. Lance Watson; and Samuel Hamilton, my father-in-law. As men have influenced me, I try to make a difference in the life of any man the Lord sends my way.

Book that has influenced me the most: “A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants” by Rueben P. Job and Norman Shawchuck. I started using this book in my prayer life in 1982.

Book I’m reading now: “An Other Kingdom: Departing the Consumer Culture” by Peter Block, Walter Brueggemann and John McKnight.

If I’ve learned one thing in life, it is: Expect anything.

Next goal: To do further studies in Christian Ethics and Theology.