In search of the György Hintz pharmacists

April 29, 2023

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The pharmaceutical profession and the baptism name György were traditional among the men of the Hintz family. In 1863 Dr. György Hintz (I) took over the pharmacy in the corner of the main square in Cluj, having inherited it from his mother, Matilda Mauksch. György Hintz I was the first Transylvanian to obtain a doctorate in pharmacology. He subsequently taught pharmacy-related topics at the university in Cluj, forming future pharmacists. He was also general curator of the Lutheran church. When he died, at just 50, from appendicitis, the pharmacy was run by a hired administrator until his son, György Hintz II, completed his studies and took over the family business in 1898. György Hintz III worked with his father since 1939 and was chief pharmacist 10 years later, when all private pharmacies in Romania were nationalized. In 1949 the Communist regime closed down the Hintz pharmacy and turned it into a museum five years later. György Hintz III and his brother, Gábor, continued to work in public pharmacies in Cluj, but were denied top positions. In the 1980s, the entire family left the country. While owned by the family, the pharmacy was called “Dr. György Hintz”, sometimes also “Saint George” or ”The Red Cross”.

Credits for the portraits of the three pharmacists:

György Hintz (I) – photo by Ferenc Veress, glass negative in the collection of the National Museum of Transylvanian History.

György Hintz (II) and (III) – photos by Ella Hintz, wife of the first and mother of the latter, images in the collection of the Hintz family, digitally processed by Melinda Blos-Jáni.