1970s
Robert Orsher, V’79, DACVS, the former owner, medical director, and chief of surgery at BluePearl Veterinary Partners in Levittown delivered the 2022 commencement address at Manor College in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania.
1980s
David Serra, V’83, retired from clinical practice as owner and internal medicine specialist at Wood River Animal Hospital, Inc., which he founded in 1992. He is working part-time as attending veterinarian at the University of Rhode Island.
Crosby Roper, V’85, sold his practice in San Diego, where he worked for thirty years, and moved to Bristol, Maine, with his wife Claire, three dogs, and cat. He is working part-time and looks forward to making improvements on their new home, which requires a large amount of landscaping and TLC.
Sallie Welte, V’88, received this year’s National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association Lifetime Achievement Award. This honor is bestowed on those who have made significant contributions to the wildlife rehabilitation field. During her 25-year teaching career at Penn Vet, she introduced thousands of students to the field of wildlife medicine. She was the clinic director and senior veterinarian at Tri-State Bird Rescue.
2000s
Amber Itle, V’03, was named the state veterinarian with the Washington State Department of Agriculture. She first joined the department in 2013 as a field veterinarian and was appointed assistant state veterinarian in 2017.
2010s
Lauren Glowzenski, V’16, received the Young Swine Veterinarian of the Year Award. The award is given annually to an American Association of Swine Veterinarians member five years or less post veterinary graduation who has demonstrated the ideals of exemplary service and proficiency early in their career. Glowzenski is the manager of veterinarian services at TriOak Foods in Oakville, Iowa, where she is responsible for the overall health and well-being of the company’s pigs.
Remembrances
1950s
Stuart Fox, V’53, passed away on January 31, 2022, in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, his beloved adopted home. He began his practice at the Rau Animal Hospital in Glenside, Pennsylvania, and eventually acquired the practice. In the mid-1970s he purchased Holiday House Pet Resort in Doylestown.
Donald Chesen, V’54, passed away on December 3, 2021. He practiced small animal veterinary medicine for 60 years in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and finished his career in Florida. He was beloved by his clients for taking the time to educate them about their animals’ health and for being soft spoken with a wonderful sense of humor. He truly loved all animals, volunteered his time, and gave to many charities on their behalf. One of his favorite sayings was, “God looks favorably upon those who are kind to animals.”
George Vernimb, V’56, passed away on April 19, 2022. He joined the Randolph Animal Hospital in Vermont, where he became a partner in 1958, alongside his dear friend, Robert Arms. The rigorous nature of large-animal veterinary medicine and the chronically low income led him to leave the practice in late 1964. He moved to Norwich, New York, where he joined the Animal Health Division of Norwich Pharmacal Company (NPC) in poultry and large-animal research and as manager of the NPC Animal Research Center. After eight years he relocated to Scotch Plains, New Jersey, where he joined the Schering-Plough Corporation in 1972. That move led to a rewarding 25-year tenure with Schering Animal Health. Recognized for his inquisitive, caring, and friendly personality, Vernimb developed long-standing relationships. He retired in 1996.
Blair R. English, V’57, passed away on June 19, 2022. He operated his own practice in Dover, Pennsylvania, for 40 years.
Edward Lemos, V’57, passed away on March 16, 2022. He was a resident of Barrington, New Hampshire.
Arthur Paul Mayer, V’57, passed away on May 12, 2022, after a brief illness. Upon graduation, he worked at Brandywine Raceway and served as the chief veterinarian at Delaware Park. He also was a consultant veterinary pathologist in the Haskell Laboratory at Dupont. He owned and operated Mayerdale Animal Hospital on Elkton Road in Newark, Delaware, where he first specialized in farm animals and racehorses and then, as the city changed, small animals, treating generations of family pets until his retirement in 2016, at age 85. In 1993, he was recognized as Delaware’s Veterinarian of the Year.
Robert Wilson, V’57, passed away on March 19, 2022. After graduation he was commissioned as a captain in the U.S. Air Force and stationed at Paine Field. While there, he served as the base veterinarian, chief food inspector, mountain rescue team leader, and traffic safety officer. In 1959, he was honorably discharged from the Air Force and began practicing veterinary medicine in Lynnwood, Washington. He served as president of the Veterinary Medical Associations of Snohomish County, Seattle, and the State of Washington. He received the John L. Fluke Award for his contribution to the Snohomish County business community. He owned and operated the Lynnwood Veterinary Hospital for 35 years.
1960s
Carol Fegley, V’60, passed away on May 13, 2022. She was the wife of the late Harry C. Fegley, VMD, for 59 years. She met Harry at a veterinary clinic in Fanwood, New Jersey, and together they built a veterinary practice in Hatboro, Pennsylvania, where they cared for clients’ beloved pets for over 40 years. Their legacy, the County Line Veterinary Hospital, continues to provide care for pets of all kinds.
E.B. Thorndike, V’64, passed away on January 2, 2022. After an internship at Henry Bergh Memorial Hospital in New York City, he was hired as an associate and soon became a partner at Miller and Clark Animal Hospital in Mamaroneck, New York. He served on the board of the Westchester Shore Humane Society and was an active member of the Westchester Rockland Veterinary Association. In 1989, he was a driving force in establishing the Veterinary Emergency Group in White Plains. He was appointed to the New York State Education Department Board for Veterinary Medicine, served two five-year terms, and was elected president.
Paul Langner, V’66, passed away on March 29, 2022, in Alamogordo, New Mexico. After graduation, he secured an internship at Penn’s New Bolton Center large animal hospital. Shortly after graduating, he was drafted into the Army and spent a year in Vietnam, where he and his troop put up the first veterinary clinic on the DMZ at Quang Tri combat base. Upon his return to civilian life, Langner went on to practice small animal medicine for most of his career. He also spent time in a private racehorse practice. He received an MS from Drexel University and pursued a fellowship in lab animal medicine at the Hershey Medical Center, leading to appointments at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Illinois, and Holloman Air Force Base, which ultimately brought him to Alamogordo.
Philip Cook, V’67, passed away on February 18, 2022. He was a graduate of Penn State University with a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science. He was a Vo-Ag teacher for 12 years at Green Park Union High School in Pennsylvania and enrolled in veterinary school at age 33. He was beloved by many as “Doc” who took care of their pets and large animals.
Charles Harkins, Jr., V’67, passed away on January 23, 2022. He practiced veterinary medicine in Annville, Pennsylvania, for a short time before opening his own practice on South Whitford Road in Exton. Affectionately known as Doc, he was a storyteller whose tales stemmed from a brief stint as a long-haul tractor trailer driver when he was only 18 years old and from his time as a large animal veterinarian in Annville, where he said he experienced similar misadventures as author James Herriot.
James Ramage, V’67, passed away on May 25, 2022. After graduation, he interned at Berg Memorial ASPCA Hospital in New York City. After working for other veterinarians for a few years, he opened Valley Veterinary Hospital in Lower Burrell, Pennsylvania. He was a highly skilled and compassionate veterinarian for 38 years.
Sandra Haggett, V’68, passed away on May 10, 2022. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School, she moved to Bar Harbor, Maine. There she and her husband, Burt, established the Acadia Veterinary Hospital, where they both worked for 23 years.
William G. Komazec, V’68, passed away on February 3, 2022. He was a veterinarian at Monmouth Animal Hospital in Little Silver, New Jersey, and later, after a move with his family to Tinton Falls in May 1975, became the co-owner/founder of the Colonial Veterinary Clinic in Colts Neck, with his longtime partner and friend, Roger Poole, VMD.
Barbara Penney, V’68, passed away after an extended illness on December 25, 2021. She practiced as a licensed veterinarian for 50 years. She was involved in teaching programs at Penn Vet as well as the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Maryland. She was also involved in researching numerous areas of veterinary/ human medicine. She worked in the animal research division of the National Institutes of Health for a number of years.
Thomas Kowalchick, V’69, passed away on February 16, 2022. He faithfully served the United States in the Navy Reserve, from which he was honorably discharged as a hospital corpsman, and, after graduation from veterinary school, in the Army Veterinary Corps, for which he was stationed with his family in Fort Lewis, Washington. After distinguished service, he was honorably discharged with the rank of captain. Following veterinary work in Philadelphia and Maryland, he returned to Berwick, Pennsylvania, to fulfill his dream of starting his own animal hospital. In 1974, he worked together with his father, brother, and friends to build his hospital from the ground up. Kowalchick and his wife launched and established his veterinary practice, North Berwick Animal Hospital.
1970s
Irving A. Salkovitz, V’75, passed away on May 28, 2022, after a long battle with cancer. After working at a practice in Monson, Massachusetts, for two years, he and his family settled in Lee, New Hampshire, where he started his own mixed animal practice, Wadleigh Falls Veterinary Clinic. The sale of the clinic in 2006 led him to work in Windham and later at Cocheco Veterinary Hospital in Farmington.
Steven Levy, V’77, passed away on May 27, 2022. After graduation, he worked at Guilford Veterinary Hospital in Guilford, Connecticut. He subsequently bought Durham Veterinary Hospital, a small animal practice in Durham, Connecticut, focusing on tick-borne diseases in dogs. In 1986, he diagnosed the first case of canine Lyme carditis, which was published two years later in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine. He also served as the veterinarian for the Connecticut State Police’s canine unit. He retired from active practice in 2008. Levy later worked for the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City and the Connecticut Humane Society. In 1993, he received the American Animal Hospital Association’s Outstanding Practitioner Award for the Northeast Region. In 1994, the AVMA honored him with the Practitioner Research Award.