Born in Groton, CT in 1818 at the age of 13 James Cook Ayer moved to Lowell, MA. Educated in public school and then the Westford Academy, he was apprenticed to James C. Robbins, a druggist in Lowell. While there he studied medicine, and later graduated from the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania. He never practiced medicine, but devoted his attention to pharmaceutical chemistry and the compounding of medicines. He built a factory in Lowell for the manufacture of his medicinal preparations, which became one of the largest of its kind in the world. He accumulated a fortune estimated at $20,000,000. In terms of income today this would be approx. $6 billion! Much of his success was due to his advertising; he published an almanac, 5,000,000 copies of which were distributed for free each year. They contained ads for his many medicines. Editions in English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish, were regularly issued. In addition to his patent medicine business, Ayer was involved in textile production in Lowell, with his brother Frederick. He died in an asylum on July 3, 1878.
Posted on: Sat, 23 Aug 2014 11:52:17 +0000
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