Cline, Raoul Rene Daniel (1868–1924)

Raoul Rene Daniel (R.R.) Cline, pioneer professor of pharmacy, was born in Woodville, Texas, on September 14, 1868. Shortly thereafter his family moved to Houston, where he attended public schools until, at the age of eleven, he was sent to live with an uncle in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He finished high school there and briefly attended Gettysburg College, then joined his sister, who had married a French chemist, in Montpellier, France. He studied pharmacy in Lille and received a B.S. degree from the University of Montpellier (1889). After returning to the United States, Cline graduated from the New York School of Pharmacy (1891). He then moved back to Houston, where he not only worked as a pharmacist, but also studied law under a local attorney and was licensed to practice. After practicing law for a short time, he resumed his education at Gettysburg College, where he obtained an M.S. in 1896.

His work experience was as varied as his education. While in France he taught English and science at a boys' school. In Houston he practiced both pharmacy and law. After James Kennedy, the first professor of pharmacy at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), resigned because of ill health, Cline was appointed professor of pharmacy and dean of the School of Pharmacy (1895). He held these positions until his death almost thirty years later, watching the graduating class grow from two to thirty-seven students, even though graduation from a school of pharmacy was not a requirement for licensure until five years after his death. In addition to his work in the School of Pharmacy, Cline was a regular lecturer on pharmaceuticals for the School of Medicine and on materia medica and therapeutics for the School of Nursing. In order to improve his teaching of pharmacy, he obtained an M.D. from UTMB in 1909.

Cline authored many articles in his field, as well as a textbook, Pharmaceutical Technology. He was a pioneer in encouraging women to achieve an education. In 1896 he was among a small group at UTMB who constructed and used the first X-ray machine in Texas. He was a member of the Texas State Pharmaceutical Association from 1892 and worked throughout his life to insure competent pharmacists and an adequate pharmacy board in Texas. He was appalled that his own state entered the twentieth century with "neither food, poison, nor pharmacy laws," and worked unceasingly to change this situation.

Cline married Anna Kaufman in 1898. She died suddenly in 1902, leaving a daughter, "Little Anna," whom Cline raised by himself. Cline died suddenly in the early morning of May 20, 1924, at the home of his daughter and her husband, C. P. Mann. Death was believed to be caused by a cerebral hemorrhage. His death occurred during the Texas Board of Pharmacy examination period in Houston. The examinations were halted for a day so that the members of the Pharmaceutical Board and the applicants, who included almost every member of the senior pharmacy class at UTMB, could go to Galveston for the funeral.