David Morris Kern

David Morris Kern (1909 – May 3, 2013) was an American pharmacist and businessman. Kern developed and co-invented Orajel, a topical medication applied to relieve pain from toothaches and mouth sores.^[1]

Kern was born in 1909 in Manhattan and raised in Brooklyn, New York.^[1] He graduated from the Brooklyn College of Pharmacy.^[1] Kern began his career as a pharmacist. He then became a salesperson for Norwich Warner Pharmaceuticals (now part of Procter & Gamble).^[1]

Kern, together with his brother and two business partners, acquired a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility.^[1] According to his family, Kern sought to create an oral medication to relieve tooth pain for teething babies soon after acquiring the manufacturing center.^[1] Together with the collaboration a chemistry professor, Kern created and developed Orajel to relieve toothaches.^[1] The over-the-counter gel was later used to alleviate mouth sores as well.^[1] In 1961, Kern sold the Orajel and the rest of his company to Del Laboratories.^[1]

He retired the pharmaceutical industry when he was 62 years old.^[1] He then focused on managing the financial affairs of his family.^[2] Kern and his wife moved to the Phoenix Metropolitan Area during the 1990s.^[1]

Kern died in a nursing facility in Paradise Valley, Arizona, on May 3, 2013, at the age of 103.^[1] His wife, Rose Ziedenweber Kern, whom he had been married to for sixty-five years, died in 2001.^[1]

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