This fund was established in 2007 by Nicholas and Sheryl Bodor to support a professorship in the Center for Drug Discovery at the College of Pharmacy.

Nicholas, an ethnic Hungarian, was born in Transylvania, Romania, and immigrated to the U.S. in 1968. He earned a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from Bolyai University in Transylvania and his Ph.D. from the University of Cluj and the Romanian National Academy of Science.

Nicholas joined the University of Florida in 1979 as Professor and Chairman of the Medicinal Chemistry Department. He was promoted to Graduate Research Professor of the University in 1983 and founded the Center for Drug Discovery in 1986. During his tenure at the University of Florida, he has supervised the training of 50 doctoral students and more than 100 postdoctoral level research associates and fellows.

In 2011, the Hungarian government recognized Bodor at its official ceremony in Budapest, where he received the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic, a prestigious state award of civil merit. He became the third recipient of the Fabinyi Prize from the Hungarian Chemical Society in 2010. The American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists presented him with their most prestigious honor, the Distinguished Pharmaceutical Scientist Award in 2007, for his contributions in pharmaceutical sciences and technologies. In 2004, Nicholas was awarded the Gold Cross of Merit of the Hungarian Republic — one of the country’s highest state honors.

He has received several honorary Doctor of Sciences degrees, including one from UF in 2005, and was elected to the Hungarian Academy of Science.