Frank William Bucknam (December 7, 1869 – April 30, 1942)^[1][2] was an American pharmacist from Yarmouth, Maine. He was appointed Maine's Commissioner of Pharmacy in 1906, and was a delegate to the United States Pharmacopeial Convention in Washington, D.C., on several occasions.

Bucknam was born on December 7, 1869, in Yarmouth, Maine, to William and Katie.^[2] He was educated in the public schools. After graduating high school, he attended business college in Portland, Maine, graduating around the time of his 21st birthday in 1890.^[1]

Bucknam entered the drug business as an apprentice with Leone R. Cook in Yarmouth's Upper Village. While there, in 1894 he received a certificate as a registered pharmacist.^[1]

In March 1894, he began running his own store at today's 108 Main Street^[3] in Yarmouth's Lower Falls. His stock included toilet articles, patent medicines, paints, oils, wallpaper, leading brands of cigars and confectionary.^[4] After six years in business, and while also balancing a role as a Yarmouth town clerk,^[5] in 1900 he purchased a store in Skowhegan, living with his wife, Gertrude, on Madison Avenue.^[1][6] His new business was destroyed by fire in December 1904, but he was back in business in a temporary store within 36 hours. He eventually found a new home beneath the Oxford Hotel at 78 Water Street. This building too burned down, in 1908.^[1][7]

In 1906, Bucknam was appointed Maine's Commissioner of Pharmacy by Governor of Maine William T. Cobb, beating five other candidates. He had received written recommendations from three-quarters of the druggists in the state.^[1]

Bucknam was a delegate to the United States Pharmacopeial Convention in Washington, D.C., on multiple occasions, including in May 1920.^[8][9]

Bucknam was married twice: firstly to Gertrude F. Whitcomb, a native of Laurel, Indiana,^[10] from September 2, 1896, until her death on March 11, 1925,^[11] then Eva Lillian Knowlton from April 6, 1926, until his own death.^[11] He had one known child, Alvan William, with Gertrude. Alvan died in the Battle of Chateau-Thierry, France, during the latter stages of the World War I.^[2]

Bucknam died on April 30, 1942, aged 72, in Skowhegan.^[2][12]