Innovation founder, chairman Boyer dies
Innovation has announced that its founder and chairman Joseph “Harry” Boyer has died. Boyer, who started the PharmASSIST maker in 1972 as Innovation Associates, passed away at his home in Johnson City, N.Y., on Jan. 30 following a long illness.
When Boyer started the company, it was as a research and development engineering, technical services and manufacturing firm. In 1995, Boyer shifted the focus to pharmacy automation, introducing the PharmASSIST technology at the National Association of Chain Drug Stores’ Pharmacy and Technology conference in Boston. Since then the company has grown into a solutions company for high-volume pharmacies in need of automation that has seen more than 2000 installations worldwide.
While leading the company, Boyer received various accolades, including the New York State Small Business Person of the Year and the Broome County Chamber of Commerce Small Business Person of the Year awards, both of which he received in 2004. He also created a strategic partnership with Binghamton University’s Thomas J. Watson Institute of Systems Excellence, through which Innovation and the university have collaborated on big data analysis, visual process simulation and artificial intelligence. In 2011, in recognition of Boyer’s efforts, the university awarded him the Binghamton University Technical Innovator of the Year award.
“Mr. Boyer was a longstanding and steadfast champion of our academic endeavors. He has positively impacted the lives of numerous students, faculty, and staff,” Binghamton WISE dean Krishnaswam (Hari) Srihari said. “Personally, I would consider him to be a mentor and a friend, a person whose life was an example for all of us. He will be sorely missed.”
Services will be held at Johnson City’s J.F. Rice Funeral Home on Feb. 2 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. followed by a funeral mass at St. James Catholic Church on Feb. 3 at 10 a.m. The family requested that donations to the Alzheimer’s Association be considered in lieu of flowers.
When Boyer started the company, it was as a research and development engineering, technical services and manufacturing firm. In 1995, Boyer shifted the focus to pharmacy automation, introducing the PharmASSIST technology at the National Association of Chain Drug Stores’ Pharmacy and Technology conference in Boston. Since then the company has grown into a solutions company for high-volume pharmacies in need of automation that has seen more than 2000 installations worldwide.
While leading the company, Boyer received various accolades, including the New York State Small Business Person of the Year and the Broome County Chamber of Commerce Small Business Person of the Year awards, both of which he received in 2004. He also created a strategic partnership with Binghamton University’s Thomas J. Watson Institute of Systems Excellence, through which Innovation and the university have collaborated on big data analysis, visual process simulation and artificial intelligence. In 2011, in recognition of Boyer’s efforts, the university awarded him the Binghamton University Technical Innovator of the Year award.
“Mr. Boyer was a longstanding and steadfast champion of our academic endeavors. He has positively impacted the lives of numerous students, faculty, and staff,” Binghamton WISE dean Krishnaswam (Hari) Srihari said. “Personally, I would consider him to be a mentor and a friend, a person whose life was an example for all of us. He will be sorely missed.”
Services will be held at Johnson City’s J.F. Rice Funeral Home on Feb. 2 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. followed by a funeral mass at St. James Catholic Church on Feb. 3 at 10 a.m. The family requested that donations to the Alzheimer’s Association be considered in lieu of flowers.