Ray Parfet Jr., 84; last family member to lead Upjohn firm

Ray T. “Ted” Parfet Jr., 84, the last member of the Upjohn family to lead the pharmaceutical firm, died Nov. 27 at a hospital in Kalamazoo, Mich., of pulmonary and cardiovascular complications.

Parfet was married for 61 years to Martha Gilmore Parfet, a granddaughter of W.E. Upjohn, the company’s founder.

As chairman and chief executive of the company from 1969 until his retirement in 1987, Parfet led the company through a period of international expansion. He remained on the firm’s board of directors until 1994. Upjohn now is a part of Pfizer.

Parfet was born in Port Huron, Mich., and moved with his family to Kalamazoo at the age of 3. He served as a bomber pilot in the Army Air Forces during World War II and flew 60 missions over Italy and Austria. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for bravery.

Married in 1945, he joined Upjohn as an accountant. In 1958, he was named a vice president and elected to the company’s board. He held a series of increasingly more important roles in the firm from that time on.

From 1974 to 2000, he and his wife, who survives him, owned the Kalamazoo Wings minor league hockey team.