Antonio Esteve was born in Manresa in 1902 and died in Barcelona in 1979. His life was filled with accomplishments in many fields, all of them distinguished by model professionality and a great love for his country.

In line with a long family tradition, Antonio Esteve graduated in Pharmacy in Barcelona in 1924 and received his doctor’s degree in Madrid a few years later. He was the fifth pharmacist of the same lineage running a pharmacy store. Yet, his professional disquiet would lead him much farther on. Antonio Esteve soon started to prepare original specialties in the back room of his pharmacy. This activity became more and more important and, with time, he eventually founded the Laboratorios Dr. Esteve. This firm started with several vitamin preparations and went on with the first antisyphilitic arsenical and the first sulphonamides ever manufactured in Spain.

Dr. Esteve i Fleming

Shortly after the Spanish Civil War, the laboratory was moved to Barcelona and a new stage began under the drive and direction of its founder, with progressive expansion and the marketing of new original pharmaceutical specialties. These specialties were the result of extensive investigational activities in the fields of chemistry and pharmacology performed under the personal direction of Dr. Antonio Esteve, who brought together a fine group of specialists in biomedical sciences.

Throughout his life, Dr. Antonio Esteve published a great number of research papers in the most renowned journals of his specialty. He was a member of many scientific associations and Vice-president of the Acadèmia de Ciències Mèdiques de Catalunya i de Balears (Academy of Medical Sciences of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands), as well as President of the Associació de Farmacologia of the Reial Acadèmia de Farmàcia de Barcelona (Pharmacology Association of the Royal Academy of Pharmacy of Barcelona), and of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans (Institute of Catalan Studies).

Dr. Antonio Esteve y su esposa, Paquita Soler

Dr. Antonio Esteve great scientific and professional legacy is the most genuine testimony of his intelligence, preparation and working skills. Nonetheless, other prime qualities also shaped his personality: deep sensitivity and involvement in serving his country, a sense of responsibility and a tempered fortitude in the good and the bad episodes of his life forged this distinguished Catalan man who served his country in a most unaffected, discreet way.

His relatives have therefore taken to honor his memory by creating the Esteve Foundation, with the aim to follow the path that he once opened in the field of pharmacological research.

 

J. Laporte (Rev Farmacol Clin Exp, 1984)