Arthur Parker

Arthur Parker, August 29, 1922 – June 10, 2018.

Arthur Parker passed away peacefully on June 10, 2018 in Creve Coeur. He was born in Revere, MA on August 29, 1922 to Myer (Perchik) Parker and Anna Lechtzer Parker. Arthur was the first in his immediate family to be born in America and he grew up in Revere as the baby of the family with four older siblings, Rose, Mildred, Sally, and William. 

He graduated from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy in 1943, ahead of schedule due to World War II. He was so young that he was ineligible for a Massachusetts pharmacy license. He served in the Navy in WWII as a pharmacist’s mate in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters before returning to Boston. He soon married and moved to St Louis per his brother’s advice, who spoke of the numerous opportunities here for an enterprising pharmacist. He worked over 40 years in St Louis as a pharmacist, both in various chain stores and at his own pharmacy; he even invented his own skin cream, briefly marketed as “COZ Ointment”.

Arthur truly was the last of his generation. The youngest child of the youngest child, he was predeceased by all of his extensive first cousins in Boston, his brothers and sisters, his brothers and sisters-in-law in the Sosna family, his three wives, Adele Heller Parker, Elizabeth Sosna Parker, and Elizabeth (Betty) Soffer Goldstein Parker, and his daughter, Faye Keyser. He is survived by his son, Myron (Vicki) Parker, his daughter Saraann (Robert Kanyok) Parker, his son-in-law Stephen Keyser, his former son-in-law Moshe Pinto, and another daughter, as well as his grandchildren Michael (Caroline) Keyser, Melissa Keyser, Adele (Brad) Best, Valerie (Gaddy) Bergmann, Elizabeth Pinto, Alexander Kanyok and his great-grandchildren Max Keyser, Hunter Parker, Rachel Cord, and Gabriel Bergmann.

Graveside service Monday, June 11th, 4:00 PM at Beth Hamedrosh Hagodol Cemetery, 9125 Ladue Road. Memorial contributions of your choice preferred. Visit bergermemorialchapel.com for more information.