Congratulations on your retirement, Professor Robert Cersosimo
It is a pleasure to recognize Prof. Robert Cersosimo on the occasion of his retirement.
I would like to highlight some of Bob’s valuable contributions and his important place in the history of our school. Bob arrived at Northeastern in 1980, when Jerry Schumacher was dean of what was then known as the College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions. Bob went on to contribute greatly to the growth and quality of the pharmacy program over his long and distinguished career. He was a key member of the team that established a post-baccalaureate Pharm.D. program, created novel coursework, expanded the experiential education program, and developed the entry-level PharmD program. His work was always marked by keen attention to detail, commitment to teaching and learning, rigorous application of evidence-based practices, and compassionate care. 
Bob served on our faculty for 41 years, teaching in the classroom, publishing highly-regarded papers on cancer pharmacotherapy, presenting at conferences, and practicing at the VA Medical Center. Along the way, he educated thousands of pharmacy students and provided mentoring to countless others. Among his many service contributions, we acknowledge his special role as chair of the Scholarship and Awards Committee and emcee at the annual awards ceremonies and convocations for more than 30 years. We knew him to be the perfect person for this role, always bringing distinction to the event through thoughtful recognition of award recipients and donors, sometimes with a good measure of humor. The entire school community is indebted to him for his valuable service in this role.
Many of us have completed and often talk about the Clifton Strengthfinders assessment, a survey that helps individuals identify their natural talents and strengths and determine ways of applying such talents within an organization. Although I’ve never asked Bob about his top five strengths, I suspect that one of them is “Input”. This attribute is associated with being inquisitive. An “input person” is inclined to collect things and, as noted in the survey materials: “You might collect information — words, facts, books, and quotations — or you might collect tangible objects such as butterflies, baseball cards, porcelain dolls, or photographs. Whatever you collect, you collect it because it interests you. And yours is the kind of mind that finds so many things interesting. The world is exciting precisely because of its infinite variety and complexity.” Anyone who ever visited Bob in his office knows what I mean. Distributed among his many books and papers was an impressive collection of lighthouse and baseball-themed items. We are fortunate that Bob also collected many valuable documents that highlight our school’s impressive history. He has generously shared that information with us and we will include it in the archives. Making history and chronicling history are important parts of Bob’s legacy.
The entire community of the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences is grateful to Bob for all he has done over his four decades of dedicated and honorable service at Northeastern. We wish him the very best in retirement – knowing he will be attending ball games and visiting lighthouses – and, most importantly, enjoying lots of newfound free time with his wonderful family and good friends.
John R. Reynolds
Professor, Department of Pharmacy and Health System Sciences