Henry Joseph Goeckel
Henry Joseph Goeckel
Henry Goeckel was born in New York City on September 27th, 1883. His early formal education was received in the public schools of his native city and in the high school of Union Hill, Hudson County, New Jersey, where he completed four years of work in three years. In November 1899, he began his pharmaceutical education by working in a local pharmacy in New Jersey and in another local pharmacy in New York City in 1900. He entered his collegiate career in the New York College of Pharmacy in October 1901 from which he graduated third in his class in 1903. Brother Goeckel returned to college the following fall for a graduate course, doing special work in chemistry, receiving his Doctorate of Pharmacy Degree in May 1904.
Immediately upon receiving his Registered Pharmacist’s Certificate in October, he managed one of the largest retail pharmacies in New York City, but resigned this position in February 1905 to work for Schieffelin and Company. After working as a manufacturing pharmacist for nine months, he was placed in charge of the analytical department at the time when the 8th revision of the U.S.P. and later the Federal Pure Food and Drug Act necessitated a standardization of nearly all products, affording an exceptional opportunity for experience in analytical chemistry. In the Fall of 1907, he accepted the position as an Apothecary in the New York Post Graduate Medical School and Hospital, so as to enable him to undertake a three years’ course in Histology, Pathology and Clinical Analysis at the Vanderbilt Clinic and the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons. On October 1, 1908, he resigned from the Post Graduate position in order to devote his entire time to studies at the college of Physicians and Surgeons, which he completed in May 1909.
Dr. Goeckel’s experiences over his lifetime were many and varied. He studied agriculture, maintained a farm, practiced retail and hospital pharmacy, and served as a manufacturing pharmacist. Dr. Goeckel was an instructor in analytical inorganic chemistry at New York University, served on the New York State Board of Pharmacy, and during World War I, was a captain in the Army Chemical Warfare Service. He established the Goeckel Laboratories at 57 East 125th Street in New York City in 1909 and moved it to Cranford, New Jersey in 1916. The laboratory was for the examination of food, chemicals, and drugs and for clinical, bacteriological and pathological examinations. It was from this laboratory at 191 North Lehigh Avenue in Cranford, N.J. that Dr. Goeckel in 1947-49 compiled his 119-page personal experience narrative of the history of Kappa Psi.
Dr. Goeckel married Leah Goldsmid of New York in October 1916. He was a member of many scientific and social organizations, and was the author of a large number of technical articles which appeared in various journals. In college affairs he was at one time a Vice-President of the Alumni Association of the College of Pharmacy and the Associate Editor of the Alumni Journal. His chief hobbies were philately, photography, and colonial history.
Henry Goeckel was a 1902 initiate of Gamma Chapter. His personal account of the process is worth noting here.
“I must confess that on entering college as a student I knew little about the Greek Letter Societies. Based upon this little knowledge and observations I could not be classed either as an admirer of the institution nor as an advocate for the same. This must seem as a strange start for one who has been as interested and as active in the Professional Greek Letter Fraternity movement as I have been for over forty years.” “Even to the turn of the century the Greek Letter Societies were still “ultra-esoteric” groups, almost to the extent of being ridiculous. They were more or less isolated and individual groups. I could not understand why if their motives were honorable and their activities just and of value to the schools and to society in general, they should go to such extremes in hiding their lights under a bushel.”
“My views were based upon observing the elaborate temples with their small and high placed windows and their general air of secrecy as seen at Yale University in New Haven, Conn. and in the crude horse play outdoor initiations of various fraternities in the New York City area. At the time the high school Greek frats had not invaded the schools with which I was acquainted.”
“My own view of Gamma Chapter into which I was later initiated was unfavorable. Looking back much can be explained constructively. Those identified with the Chapter as was customary held more or less group class elections to assure that the fraternities would shine in the so-called class and school honor positions. I was one of the more active men in the none-frat group opposing this and succeeding in making the election more representative of the student body.”
“At that time, I received my first bid to become a member of Kappa Psi which I promptly and emphatically turned down. It chanced that among the active and graduate ranks of Gamma were eight members who had either attended the same high school as I did or worked in the same establishments with me to gain experience and to earn the means to attend college as I did.”
Much to my surprise I received another bid the following year. As the heat of my temper had cooled and my knowledge of the men and of the organization had advanced considerably, I was initiated. In a certain part of the ceremony the members made sure that my wrists were well anchored to my body. They then settled their score with me for my activities the year before. At the earliest opportunity I delved into the Secretary’s records to find out how I came to get a second bid. The records showed that the entire eight members mentioned above attended the meeting and did some strenuous electioneering in my behalf to keep the ballot clear.”
Shortly after his initiation Henry was elected to the office of Chapter Poet, the name of which was later changed to Chapter Historian. In 1904 he and another Gamma initiate, Bruce W. Philip, convinced the Fraternity to establish a Kappa Psi Prize medal to be given to the student who attained the highest general average in the entire university course for Pharmaceutical Chemist, the entry level pharmacy degree at that time. This Kappa Psi Gold Medal Award was the forerunner to the Grand Council Scholarship Key. It was designed by Henry Goeckel and prepared by the A.H. Fetting Company of Baltimore, Maryland.
When the Grand Council convened in Baltimore, Maryland in 1906 there was great speculation as to who would be most qualified to become editor of The MASK. Brother Press Eldridge said he knew of only one man whose previous experience fitted him for the position at that time, Henry Goeckel. He was unanimously elected as Grand Historian and Editor and re-elected in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1907. While Grand Historian and Editor he organized and installed the New York Graduate Chapter, serving as its first Regent.
Editor Goeckel changed the policy of The MASK from a monthly to a quarterly publication, enlarged the publication and added many new features. In November, 1908, he resigned the Office of Grand Historian and Editor, but later accepted the position of Exchange Editor to complete the organization of our Exchange Department which he began while Editor. The purpose of this department was to formalize communication with other professional fraternities in the Greek world and to thereby broaden the outlook and outreach of our own numbers. After completing this work in 1910 he turned the position of Exchange Editor over to his fellow initiate of Gamma Chapter, Dr. Richard Bliss, Jr. Henry continue to serve on the Board of Associate Editors in charge of the Endowment Department.
Henry Goeckel revised the Ritual and prepared and submitted the model set of By-Laws which were adopted at the 1908 Grand Council Convention. From 1910 to 1913 he served the Fraternity as Grand Registrar. On September 17, 1912 he meticulously recorded the information on the Grand Council investigation of September 14-16, 1912 into the early history of Kappa Psi at the Russell and Cheshire Military Academies as told by one of the three investigators, Dr. Richard Bliss, Jr. In 1947-49 he compiled a 119-page handwritten document outlining his early recollections of the Fraternity. Included in this report are nine pages detailing the 1912 investigation which is now the only first-hand account we have in our archives on the early prep school history.
Dr. Goeckel was the editor of the Seventh Edition of The Agora, the 1910 Edition. In addition to an alphabetical listing of the membership of 19 collegiate and 4 graduate chapters it included information not heretofore published, making it a “Handbook of Kappa Psi” information. This was the last Agora produced until the Fraternity’s reorganization in 1925.
Dr. Henry J. Goeckel, died in 1960 at the age of 76.