While attending the Albany CollegeofPharmacyof Union University, he became fascinated by old apothecary items, like patent medicines and lozengemakers.
Born in 1909 in Manhattan and raised in Brooklyn, Kern graduated from the Brooklyn CollegeofPharmacy and worked as a pharmacist before becoming a salesman for Norwich and Warner Pharmaceuticals.
In my freshman phys ed class at the Philadelphia CollegeofPharmacy and Science, we were required to learn to shoot a rifle for target shooting purposes (although I think planting the seed of arming future inner-city pharmacists was an ulterior motive).