David Morris Kern

David Morris Kern (1909 – May 3, 2013) was a pharmacist and the founder of Orajel. Born in 1909 in Manhattan and raised in Brooklyn, Kern graduated from the Brooklyn College of Pharmacy and worked as a pharmacist before becoming a salesman for Norwich and Warner Pharmaceuticals.

After he bought a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility with his brother and two partners, he created Orajel with the help of a chemistry professor. Kern told family members that he developed Orajel because he sought to find relief for teething babies. Kern later sold the company to Del Laboratories in 1961, and moved to the Phoenix-area in 1990s with his wife, Rose Ziedenweber Kern. The couple was married 65 years until her death in 2001.

Kern retired from his pharmaceutical career as the age of 62 and later turned to managing family finances.