Calligan Pharmacy owner remembered for treating everyone warmly

The kind, hardworking approach of a Harrison man will live on through his children and family.

Richard “Dick” Calligan, a pharmacist, owned and operated Calligan Pharmacy on Corbet Street in Tarentum until 2007, when it was sold to Blackburn’s Physician Pharmacy.

He died Wednesday. He was 88.

“What I learned (about being a pharmacist), I learned from my dad in just watching how he treated people,” said Diane Ford, one of Calligan’s three children. She works as a pharmacist at Walmart in Frazer and Harrison.

Ford, 52, of Natrona Heights worked with her dad and sister, Amy Camp, at the pharmacy growing up.

“The way he treated people, and especially people at the pharmacy — the customers — he treated them like family and friends,” she said. “It was not business first.”

Camp, 59, of Natrona Heights also works as a pharmacist for Walmart, the store near Kittanning. She said her dad loved his job, but that he loved helping people more — whether that be his own family or his customers.

“He really got to know the people and treated them like family,” she said. “He was just a great role model, and I wanted to follow in his footsteps and help people in the same way.”

Francis Calligan, 60, of Natrona Heights did not become a pharmacist. Instead, he owned a dental practice in Tarentum just three blocks down from his dad’s pharmacy. He retired five years ago after 30 years.

“He helped me out quite a bit with my education and setting up my business,” Francis Calligan said. “He taught me how to run a business and be fair to people. We all loved him very much. … he was just a good guy all around.”

Barb Magnetta, widow of former Tarentum Mayor Carl Magnetta, said she knew Dick Calligan well, since the 1970s.

“You can’t compare him to anybody else,” she said. “He was so personable, always so kind.

“I can’t say enough about him,” she said. “He was always fair, he always treated people like he wanted to be treated. He made you feel welcome every time you came in (to the pharmacy). You got a huge welcome from Dick or his wife or his girls or the staff. They were all just simply wonderful people.”

Calligan, son of the late Francis E. and Mary A. Sadowski Calligan, graduated from St. Joseph High School in Natrona in 1948 and four years later graduated from Duquesne University’s School of Pharmacy. He also served in the Army during the Korean War.

Calligan leaves behind his wife of 61 years, Delores “Mitzi” Bialas Calligan and his three children. He also had nine grandchildren and four great grandchildren.

A parish vigil service will be held at 12:45 p.m. Friday, July 19. Friends and family will be received Friday from 1 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. at Chicholski-Zidek Funeral Home in Natrona Heights, Harrison. A parting prayer service will also be held there starting at 9 a.m. Saturday, July 20 , with a burial Mass following at 9:30 a.m. in Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament Church in Harrison.

He will be buried in Our Lady of Hope Cemetery in Frazer .

In lieu of flowers, contributions in memory of Mr. Calligan may be made to either Our Lady of Most Blessed Sacrament School or St. Joseph High School in Natrona Heights, Harrison. To send an online condolence, visit www.chicholski-zidekfh.com.