Laverne C. Larson, '55 DVM, died October 6, 2016. The valedictorian of his graduating class, Larson was a partner at the Cooperstown Veterinary Clinic in Cooperstown, North Dakota, from 1955 to 1982. He then went on to work for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service in Nebraska and Minnesota for  seven years before retiring in Cooperstown.

John Kunkel, '61 BS, '63 DVM, died November 21, 2016, after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease. His primary professional interests were bovine medicine and embryo transfer.

Todd D. Johnson, '63 DVM, of Paynesville, Minnesota, died November 29, 2016. After practicing in Spring Grove, Ortonville, and Ruthton/Tyler, Johnson established a practice in Paynesville in 1975, retiring in 2001. He enjoyed fishing, golfing, and hunting with his many Labrador retrievers.

William Theodore Burke, '61 DVM, of Rochester, Minnesota, died on April 14. Burke worked as a statistician and computer programmer for the Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C., for many years. He was also a master gardener.

Marshall “Kim” Brinton, '81 BS, '83 DVM, died December 4, 2016, at his home in Miami Beach, Florida, at age 62. After working at a veterinary clinic in Roswell, New Mexico, Brinton and his wife, former classmate Jane Nygaard, returned to St. Paul and the University of Minnesota in 1985, when Brinton did graduate work in avian microbiology. His first major success was developing a vaccine for Pasteurella anatipestifer, an economically devastating turkey disease. In the ensuing years, he developed and patented several vaccines and toxoids to improve flock and herd health and reduce the need for antibiotics in poultry and swine. He founded the Poultry Veterinary Center in 1994 and retired in 2006.

Raymond O. Benson, '66 DVM, died on January 21 at age 92. After graduation, he established a mixed animal practice in Clarissa, Minnesota, then went on to earn a master’s in science at the University of Minnesota in 1970 and teach at Washington State University for four years. He then returned to Minnesota tonpractice primarily small animal medicine in Hermantown. He later taught at the CVM for almost 20 years, focusing on orthopedic surgery.

Carl Osborne, '64 DVM, '70 PhD, professor and founder of the Minnesota Urolith Center, died peacefully on March 5, 2017 surrounded by his family and best friend, Chloe, his longtime service dog. Osborne was a member of the College of Veterinary Medicine faculty for 53 years. He earned his DVM from Purdue University in 1964, joined the faculty of the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine the same year, and earned his PhD from the University of Minnesota in 1970.

Osborne began the Minnesota Urolith Center “on a shoestring” in 1981. Later funded by Hill’s Pet Nutrition, it has since analyzed more than one million stones sent from around the world, and continues to research the prevention of and cures for diseases of the urinary system in companion animals under the leadership of Osborne’s colleague, Dr. Jody Lulich. In recognition of his extraordinary career, the College of Veterinary Medicine created the Osborne-Hills Chair in Nephrology and Urology in 1998.

Bob Morrison, '84 PhD, '86 DVM, MBA, a professor in the Department of Veterinary Population Medicine, died in a traffic accident near Prague in the Czech Republic on May 2, 2017. Morrison joined the CVM in 1986. In addition to teaching and conducting research, he coordinated two swine health management conferences: the St. Paul-based Allen D. Leman Swine Conference and the Leman China Conference in Nanjing, China. He had recently launched the Swine Health Monitoring Project, which provides weekly reports on the health status of more than 50 percent of U.S. sow herds. Morrison earned his DVM at the University of Saskatchewan and his PhD and MBA at the University of Minnesota. In 2016, National Hog Farmer honored him as one of the Masters of the Pork Industry.

Stan Diesch, '56 DVM, MPH, professor emeritus, alumnus, and CVM pioneer in One Health, died on May 10, 2017, just short of his 92nd birthday. After graduating from the CVM in 1956, Diesch joined a private practice in Freeport, Illinois, before purchasing a food animal practice in Winthrop, Iowa. After about six years, he returned to the University, earning his master’s of public health and joining the University of Iowa as an assistant professor in 1963. In 1966, Diesch was hired as a faculty member at the College of Veterinary Medicine and School of Public Health, where he worked for more than 30 years. He was also the CVM’s director of international programs for 10 years. In 2015, he was honored with the Siehl Prize by the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resources Sciences.