I had been working on a draft for my next post. It was meant to be a lighter look at some of the subject matter at the recent provincial pharmacy conference in Nova Scotia. The conference took place at the end of September so I have really been dragging my heels this fall. The presenters were excellent and engaging, using the latest apps to poll the crowd and promote on social media. My 2026 resolution of sorts was to get back on the horse and dedicate more structured time to writing.

The truth is, I honestly didn’t feel like writing this past week, nor do I want to delve into what you will read next…

News came in after Christmas that there was a car accident at 8pm in the evening of Dec 27. A head-on collision with a suspected drunk driver and passenger in one vehicle, and an unsuspecting 52-year old husband and father of three driving home from visiting his parents. Glenn Rodrigues lost his life that night. The pharmacy community lost a giant. It lost a leader, a mentor, a teacher and a trusted friend. Incidentally, he was one of the presenters at the conference, and his energy that day was infectious. For many, that will be their last memory of him: watching in awe as he deftly led a real-time demonstration of AI scribe, proving its immense value as a clinical tool. He had such a knack for getting you excited about what the practice of pharmacy is today, and what it will be in the future. My last memory of Glenn was shortly after his presentation in the conference hallway by the coffee bar. I congratulated him on another amazing session and began to pelt him with suggestions for topics and formats for the Pharmacy Association 2026 podcast season.

I don’t know how to properly articulate just how much of a force Glenn was. I hesitated a moment before writing ‘was’ in the last sentence, as I feel he still ‘is’ and will continue to be. His fingerprints seem to be everywhere.

So many pharmacists, dating back to when he arrived at the Burbidge building in 1995 for his first year of pharmacy, have benefited from his boundless positivity and insight. He was active at the College till the very end, developing Skills Lab curriculum for burgeoning clinicians who sought to follow his lead.

The trajectory of pharmacy practice in Nova Scotia over the past 2 decades has been influenced heavily by Glenn’s passion and curiosity. Ahead of his time, he challenged conventional behaviors when it came to performing medication reviews, prescribing for minor ailments, managing injection clinics, integrating regulated technicians into workflow, piloting AI transcribing, etc. He received pushback on how aggressive he could be with practice change, but he was firm and confident in his beliefs on how he could…check that…WE could best provide clinical care.

So now we ask ourselves, “What Would Glenn Do?” When his sister Cara delivered Glenn’s eulogy, she encouraged all of us to ponder how he might approach life situations. For this level of grief, it’s difficult to point to any linings, silver or otherwise. One thing I do know is that Glenn would want us to THRIVE; he helped write a prescription for it, and he was a driving force in developing a camp for it. The idea for Camp Thrive was for pharmacy managers to come together and work through problems as peers without pressure or judgement. It touched on operations, change management, human resources, financials, and planning for the future. He wanted for us to feel empowered to make difficult changes and adapt beyond where we may have once thought impossible. He not only felt elation for when the sparks of change grew into a flame, he relished being part of the hatching of a plan, collecting the tinder and building that fire to last through the harshest weather.

Rest easy, my friend. We miss you, and we’ll do our absolute best to carry the torch you used to light our way. You will be a constant voice perched atop our collective shoulders for countless years to come.

Until we meet again, we’ll always save you a seat at the campfire.

https://www.arbormemorial.ca/en/atlantic-dartmouth/obituaries/glenn-dwayne-rodrigues/153340.html

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any agency, employer or affiliation.