Hayutin, Arnold (Arnie), 1936-2015

Dates

• Usage: 1936 October 26 - 2015 March 14

Biography

Arnold Hayutin (October 26, 1936 - March 14, 2015) was a Denver native who grew up on the West Side and attended Cheltenham Elementary, Lake Junior and North High. He graduated University of Colorado with a degree in pharmacy. Arnold married Phyllis Weinberg on June 10, 1958. The couple had three children, David, Stephen and Karen. During his 55-year career as a pharmacist, he owned and or operated 10 stores including Yale Pharmacy, The Drugstore (23 years), the Prescription Store in Aurora and Midtown Pharmacy. He was the Arapahoe County planning commissioner for 13 years; president of the Rocky Mountain Jewish Historical Society; and a member of the CU School of Pharmacy’s advisory board. He was also president of the Beth Joseph Men’s Club, he was on the boards of Beth Joseph and BMH-BJ.

Arnold (Arnie) Hayutin was a Jewish pharmacist in the Denver area. He was the second generation of pharmacy Denverite, which influenced his decision to pursue the field. He is the son of Sam Hayutin. His mother, Bess, immigrated to the U.S. from Russia at the age of three with her mother to follow her father, Reverend Jacob Gorden, who had established himself as a kosher butcher in Denver's West Side Jewish community.

In 1958, Arnie married Phyllis Weinberg, from Chicago, while they were both students at the University of Colorado at Boulder. They both graduated in 1959, and became the parents of three, David, Karen, and Stephen, and eventually the grandparents of six. Arnie first worked at Park Hill Drug Store until 1960, when he purchased Yale Pharmacy from his father and uncle. It was a small store in a medical building, and the store thrived. Arnie built strong connections with his customers, took great pride in his work, and was a capable and enthusiastic entrepreneur. He saved the first dollar he made at his business and had his staff sign it as a memento. The size of the store limited growth, however, and he sold it on June 7th, 1973 and opened a new store, The Drugstore, on June 10th of 1973. The new store was located on Monaco Parkway near Tennessee Avenue. It was a full-line store, and one of the first boutique carpeted stores. Unfortunately, the new store struggled at first because it was too expensive for the neighborhood.

Arnie met Richard Bard, the Denver CEO of FoxMeyer Drug Co., Denver's new wholesale drug company. Richard became Arnie's mentor and close friend. By adopting FoxMeyer's new merchandizing approach and franchise for independent drugstores, The Drugstore prospered. It became one of the first 500 successful Health Mart stores in the country. The business was also a strong and enduring partnership with Arnie’s wife, Phyllis, who worked beside him for years. She not only purchased all of the gift items and arranged all the displays, but also served as the postal worker for the U.S. Post Office outlet located in The Drugstore. He worked at The Drugstore for over 20 years.

In later years, Arnie bought inventories and accounts receivable from other drugstores, which they closed and incorporated into The Drugstore. He opened Midtown Pharmacy on Franklin Street connected to St. Joseph Hospital, which provided him with a store in which to consolidate inventories from the two Thebus Pharmacies he purchased earlier. Next came Bonnie Brae Pharmacy, which he bought and closed, folding it into Midtown, which he owned for years before selling it. In 1986, Arnie opened yet another drugstore, The Prescription Store in the Potomac Medical Center in Aurora, which he ran until 1998. After selling his stores, he worked as a temp pharmacist for an agency at drugstores throughout the state until he became ill. Arnie passed away in 2015.

Arnie was always active in general and the Jewish community. During his career, he served on the University of Colorado (CU) School of Pharmacy’s Advisory Council, on the School of Pharmacy’s Curriculum Task Force, was a preceptor to pharmacy interns, and helped identify the location for the new pharmacy school museum in Denver. At CU Health Sciences, Arnie worked closely with Louis Diamond, who stepped down as the Dean of the CU School of Pharmacy in 2006 after having served in the position for 20 years, to resume his career as a pharmacy school faculty member. Arnie also served on the Planning Commissioner for Arapaho County for fourteen years, on the board of the Small Business Administration and the Leadership Council of the College of Business and Administration at CU Denver. In the Jewish community, he served as a president of the Rocky Mountain Jewish Historical Society and as a board member of the Beth Joseph Synagogue and Beth HaMedrosh Hagodol Congregation - Beth Joseph Congregation (BMH-BJ). Arnold never fully retired; pharmacy was his calling for fifty-five years.

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