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Pharmacy grad, educator and donor Bob Sprague is helping shape the future of student success.

At the ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥, pharmacy isn’t just a profession — it’s a family tradition. For Bob Sprague, ’85 BSc(Pharm), that tradition spans generations, beginning with his grandpa Walter Sprague’s graduation from pharmacy in 1932 and continuing today through Bob’s service as a board member with the ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ Pharmacists’ Association, past president of ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥’s pharmacy college, business owner, pharmacy educator, philanthropic leader, and a U of A senator.

Thanks to donors like Bob, today’s pharmacy students are gaining not only academic excellence but real-world experience — the kind that helps them thrive in a rapidly evolving healthcare landscape.

The Sprague family’s legacy is deeply rooted in the U of A's history. His grandpa, Walter, taught pharmacy business in the 1940s, and Bob’s mom, Sandra Macleod Sprague, served for six years on the U of A Senate. His aunt and uncle, Margot Macleod Winspear and Bill Winspear (Gold Medal winner U of A Faculty of Commerce), helped establish the Winspear Library at the U of A School of Business and the Winspear Centre in downtown Edmonton. The iconic convocation chairs sat in by the U of A president and chancellor every graduation were donated by the Macleod and Winspear families, including the University’s mace holder, in memory of their father, Dr. Malcolm Macleod. His grandpa Macleod was chairman of the U of A Board of Governors for 16 years.

“I’m so blessed to have graduated from the U of A,” says Bob. “It gave me the foundation for everything that followed — from my business ventures, my work in health care leadership, and supporting our next generation of pharmacy leaders.”

Bob wants every student to have access to the same kind of support that he experienced. Through his contributions to a number of awards and funds, he is helping prepare the next generation of pharmacy leaders. His support reflects a key pillar of Shape the Future, the university’s campaign to expand scholarships, bursaries and awards that help students stay focused, confident and career-ready.

This includes another award close to the Sprague family's heart: the Gene Harty Memorial Scholarship, named for a former pharmacist colleague and friend. Each year, Bob presents the Gene Harty award at the Faculty of Pharmacy’s White Coat Ceremony, which welcomes new students into the profession.

Among those students is Joel Ray, a third-year doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) student whose rural upbringing in Innisfail inspired him to pursue pharmacy. As a recipient of the Gene Harty award, Ray says the Sprague family’s generosity helped him focus on developing both his clinical skills and leadership potential.

“Because of the generosity of donors, when I start my rotations and eventually enter practice, I will have a solid foundation of textbook and real-life baseline knowledge,” says Ray.

That blend of academic rigour and experiential learning is something Bob understands intimately. After running his family’s pharmacy and other businesses for years (Sprague Drug) — growing it to 28 locations between Edmonton and Calgary before successfully selling them — he went on to serve in senior leadership roles with the ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ Government and ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ Health Services, mentoring students in system-level thinking and leadership.

Student experience has always been central to Bob’s approach — and it remains a priority in the fundraising focus of Shape the Future, which aims to give more students access to real-world, hands-on training. Through community placements in his pharmacies and leadership rotations in government, Bob has helped students move beyond the textbook, giving them a deeper understanding of how pharmacy connects to the entire healthcare system.

Through his gifts to the university and ongoing involvement, Bob Sprague is now passing that torch to a new generation.

“It’s about honouring the past and investing in the future,” he says. “Pharmacy has given so much to my family. Supporting students is our way of giving back.”

 In his Calgary home, Bob has preserved his family’s pharmacy legacy with a personal museum featuring more than 60 mortars and pestles, apothecary jars from the 1700s, and pharmacy family history from 1901. A special legacy is the one gifted to him by his grandpa Walter on his graduation day, engraved with the words: “It’s your turn now.”

Students have a remarkable will to change the world. They will broaden our horizons, feed the world, improve health outcomes and take on inequity. Join the Shape the Future campaign as we raise $100 million to provide the next generation of U of A change makers with the access, opportunities and spaces that will help them shape an inspiring future for all. 

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