Varro Tyler’s Passing a Great Loss to the Supplement Industry

WASHINGTON, DC, August 22, 2001—Today’s news that Varro Tyler, Dean and Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Purdue University, has passed away reverberates painfully through the botanical dietary supplement industry. "Professor Tyler played a huge role in the botanical industry," said John Cordaro, president and chief executive officer of the Council for Responsible Nutrition. "He provided credible, no nonsense advice to consumers in books like Herbs of Choice and The Honest Herbal and he offered the same kind of honest, no-holds-barred counsel to the many companies he advised over the years. We will all miss his sound, reasoned opinions."

After a distinguished and productive academic career at Purdue that included the Lilly Distinguished Chair in Pharmacognosy, Dean of the School of Pharmacy and Pharmacal Sciences, and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, Dr. Tyler "retired" and began a new career as consultant and adviser to the U.S. botanical dietary supplement industry. He was a consultant to CRN for many years, and served as a Trustee of the American Botanical Council.

"Dr. Tyler may not have been in agreement with either the industry or the FDA when it came to regulatory issues, but he had an enthusiastic belief in the value and benefit of herbs, and an unwavering commitment to a sound, rational, scientific basis for all the botanical products in the marketplace," said John Cardellina, vice president for botanical science at CRN. "Most recently, Professor Tyler was a key, outspoken member of our Expert Panel for the CRN-ABC Review of the Safety and Benefit of Botanicals. It is interesting to consider that, at the beginning of his career, he was one of the founders of the American Society of Pharmacognosy and served as its first president. As Mark Blumenthal, executive director of the American Botanical Council, put it, Varro Tyler was ‘…a true giant in the field of pharmacognosy and herbal medicine education…’."

CRN and its members offer condolences to Professor Tyler’s wife, Ginny, and to his family, friends and colleagues, while saluting his enormous contributions, spirit and integrity.

The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) is a science-based, trade association founded in 1973 and represents more than 110 companies in the dietary supplement industry, including ingredient suppliers and manufacturers. CRN members adhere to a strong code of ethics, comply with dosage limits and manufacture dietary supplements to high quality standards under good manufacturing practices.