Sentence:  He <WSD>was</WSD> , however , fortunate in his contact with Prof. J. G. L. Manthey ( 1769 - 1842 ) , teacher of chemistry , who , in addition to his academic chair , was also proprietor of the `` Lion Pharmacy '' in Copenhagen where Oersted assisted him . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)