Richard Sackler | |
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![]() Sackler in 2015 | |
Born | Richard Stephen Sackler March 10, 1945 Roslyn, New York, US |
Education | Columbia University (BA) New York University (MD) |
Occupation | Businessman |
Known for | Former chairman and president of Purdue Pharma |
Spouse | Beth Sackler (divorced) |
Children | 3 |
Father | Raymond Sackler |
Family | Sackler |
Richard Stephen Sackler (born March 10, 1945)[1] is an American businessman and physician who was the chairman and president of Purdue Pharma, a former company best known as the developer of OxyContin, whose initiation of the opioid epidemic in the United States became the subject of many lawsuits and fines, filing for bankruptcy in 2019.[2][3][4] It has been claimed that Richard Sackler's Purdue is among "the worst drug dealers in history"[5] and the Sackler family have been described as the "most evil family in America".[6][7][8][9] The company's downfall was the subject of the 2021 Hulu miniseries Dopesick and the 2023 Netflix miniseries Painkiller, in which Sackler is portrayed by Michael Stuhlbarg and Matthew Broderick, respectively.