Clifton Joseph Latiolais (1926-1995): enthusiasm for excellence.

Past residents and colleagues gathered for a memorial service during the 1995 annual meeting of the American Society of Hospital (now Health-System) Pharmacists (ASHP) to honor past president Clifton Joseph Latiolais. A consistent theme ran through the memorials: innovator, leader, visionary, teacher, and preceptor. Especially noted was his philosophy of enthusiasm for excellence, of doing the very best at all times, not just sometimes. A student of Don Francke, Latiolais was clearly his own man with a vision of what pharmacy was about, not just hospital pharmacy but all pharmacy. He engaged a generation of residents and students to develop their own talents to the fullest so that the profession would meet its full potential.1 A 1979 survey of pharmacy directors of medical school–affiliated hospitals identified Clifton Latiolais as “the pharmacist most responsible for their success.”2