Raymond Mirra Successful Entrepreneur

Raymond Mirra Jr was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Dolores Mirra and Raymond Mirra Sr. His father worked at a lighting company, while his mother used to work as a clerk. Ray attended Jim Thorpe High School in Blackwood, New Jersey. Ray Mirra Jr. is a pharmacist who is currently a managing partner of the Rx Depot, a pharmacy-chain in Philadelphia that he founded. The foundation for his experience as a pharmaceutical entrepreneur can be attributed to his long career as an assistant manager at the Hahnemann Hospital in Philadelphia and to his previous work as a pharmacy technician at the same hospital.

The Raymond Mirra Jr.’s career began in 1977 as a Pharmacy Technician. In the year 1976, he became an associate member of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), and then a fellow in 1991. Furthermore, during his internship position at Hahnemann Hospital Philadelphia, Raymond Mirra Jr., found an opportunity to become an errand boy for a humble drugstore called R&R. Here he would buy medications and deliver them to doctors’ offices throughout town.

Ray Mirra started his prospering business in 1997 at the age of 33. It all happened at a time when he was running a pharmacy in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Feeling as if he had a better idea, Ray sold the pharmacy and two years later, in 1999, opened his own Drug store named Trotters. The vision of his Drug Store was based on providing superior pharmaceutical services of the highest quality to everyone. It filled a need for an independent drug store that offered more than most pharmacies did. Ray Mirra realized early on that pharmacy operations were becoming much more complex and he wanted to be involved with owning and operating a store that catered to these needs.

Kind Hearted Nature

He wanted Trotters Discount Pharmacy to be different from other big box chains and provide excellent customer service which made it highly popular among the locals. On the other hand, Ray is well-known for his kind-hearted nature that stems from his faith and core values: family, hard work, education and healthfulness life style (which can arguably be traced back to his mother Dolores). At that point, he let go of a Pharmacy Technician position and began working at W3RZ Radio. The radio station offered Ray Mirra the position of a disc jockey and he accepted it happily. Ray was a DJ for the station and could not stop playing vinyl records on air nonstop.

However, the DJ believed that the new music emerging in Philadelphia in 1979 would eventually reach him even at his job. Therefore, he played Philadelphia and his remaining 12 years in radio under the name of Dr. Ozzy of the Dr. Ozzy Show. In addition to his DJ responsibilities on air, Ray Mirra was a part-owner of W3RZ Radio. Whatever he has been doing since then has contributed to his immense success and wealth in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Despite being crowned as the king of his industry, Raymond Mirra Jr. started his career like most other people of his age; with a job as a pharmacy technician at the hospital. It is important to note that this was the prime time for Raymond’s pharmaceutical education and professional development.

Making use of the enlightenment he received from colleagues such as Arnold Klein and Kent Hovwald, Raymond Mirra Jr. graduated in 1977 with a diploma in pharmacy and medicinal chemistry. The same year, he began a full-time job at Hahnemann Hospital while working part-time in a different location as well. Therefore, he became the assistant manager at Crown Drugs while serving as a pharmacy technician at Hurley Medical Center of Bethlehem Pennsylvania. Ray Mirra’s career in Pharmacy started early on in his life. He began working while he was still at school and continued after he graduated. Ray worked as a skilled pharmacy technician from 1973- 1978, and in 1978, Ray Mirra turned a customer service representative at a pharmacy chain.

Consultant Pharmacist

Soon after, Ray found himself working as the pharmacist for a newly opened drug store owned by Rite Aid Corporation in South Philadelphia, which is also where he got acquainted with the concept of “buy low, sell high”. In 1982, Ray Mirra became the owner of Botany Drug Shop, located at Columbus Boulevard in South Philadelphia. At this point, Mirra had been serving clients for 5 years already! After his graduation, Ray Mirra joined the American Society of Hospital Pharmacists in 1982. He also worked as a Consultant pharmacist at the University Hospital of Philadelphia. This research stint resulted in better understanding the community pharmacists and hospital pharmacists’ functioning differently in terms of medications management and supplies.

Notable among them was that the hospital pharmacies were more inclined towards automated equipment while community pharmacies relied heavily on pharmacists. Raymond Mirra has spent a lifetime in the pharmaceutical industry. Today he is the President and sole proprietor of Crown Cork & Seal. He founded Crown Cork in 1969, which provides an award-winning range of innovative products to leading customers across the globe that help them maintain their competitive edge while minimizing their environmental footprint, through providing high quality packaging solutions.