Dr. Reg Thomson, Founding Dean of the Atlantic Veterinary College, was posthumously awarded AVC’s 2010 Honourable Eugene F. Whelan Green Hat Award at UPEI’s Founders’ Day ceremony on Friday, September 24, for his pivotal role in the establishment of AVC at UPEI.
Dr. Basil Ikede, former student and long-time colleague and friend of Dr. Thomson, accepted the award on behalf of Dr. Thomson’s wife, Mrs. Helen Thomson-Patterson, who was unable to attend the ceremony.
The following is the citation that was read at the ceremony by AVC student Nolan Osborne, Class of 2012:
Dr. R.G. (Reg) Thomson
It is fitting that, 20 years after the graduation of the charter class of the Atlantic Veterinary College in 1990, we pause to reflect on the man who, more than anyone, is responsible for the establishment of the AVC at the University of Prince Edward Island, Dr. R.G. Thomson.
Founding Dean Reginald George Thomson is virtually unknown to the students who fill the halls of the AVC today. As well, many current faculty and staff members never had the opportunity to work with or meet him. Dean Thomson has been gone from AVC for 20 years now, but his legacy lives on. Today's Atlantic Veterinary College is a justifiably proud institution, universally recognized for the quality of its graduates, the discoveries of its researchers, the care and support of regional animal populations and veterinary practitioners. This relatively small college has made a difference in veterinary medicine that belies its stature, but that faithfully reflects the culture of hard work and determination established at the very outset by Dr. Thomson.
Reginald Thomson was born on a dairy farm in Woodstock, Ontario, on April 7, 1934. In high school, he drove a green pickup truck with a big picture of a Jersey cow on the side. With this truck, he would call for Helen Ure, a town girl and his future wife.
Dr. Thomson graduated from the Ontario Veterinary College in 1959 and worked in private practice for two years. He then returned to OVC to pursue a Masters of Veterinary Science degree in Pathology, with which he graduated in 1963. He became a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists and obtained a PhD at Cornell in 1965, after which he received an appointment as an Associate Professor with OVC, and within 2 years, was promoted to full professor. Some of his students were AVC’s own Drs Tim Ogilvie, Gerry Johnson, Jim Bellamy, Paul Hanna, Barb Horney, and Ian and Susan Dohoo, amongst others.
In an academic setting, Dr. Thomson was highly respected, and for the unprepared student, almost feared. He was very disciplined and detailed in his approach to the study of Veterinary Pathology. He also had the ability to know every student in his class by name. This combination of expecting academic excellence and asking specific questions of students proved to be very daunting for veterinary undergrads—particularly on a Monday morning for the bleary-eyed and addle-headed after a weekend of social engagements.
Dr. Thomson’s research interests were centred on bovine respiratory disease where he supervised many graduate students in his academic career including AVC’s Drs Basil Ikede and Alfonso Lopez.
In late 1978, Dr. Thomson was granted a three-year leave of absence from OVC to explore the possibility of establishing a veterinary college in Atlantic Canada. As Planning Coordinator for the proposed school, he was tasked with identifying for Atlantic Canadians the need for and benefits of a veterinary college, and developing a vision for the kind of school it should be. During this period, Dr. Thomson made numerous presentations to universities, bureaucrats, provincial and federal politicians, veterinarians, farmers, fishers, the media and the general public to seek their input and to help formulate his vision. His vision, determination and tireless efforts during this period laid the groundwork for the establishment of this great college.
In 1983, it was finally announced that the Atlantic Veterinary College would be established at the University of Prince Edward Island with Dr. Thomson as its Founding Dean. Over the next few years, Dr. Thomson guided a team of architects, builders, and veterinary colleagues in assembling a world-class veterinary medical teaching, research, and service facility at UPEI. Due in no small measure to his national and international veterinary experience, he was able to recruit highly skilled faculty and staff in spite of severe shortages in many veterinary disciplines at the time.
Dr. Reg Thomson was a quiet man, but intense, and extraordinarily well focused. He was the proverbial man of action, a tireless worker, regularly putting in six or seven days a week. He cherished his short naps after supper and would then return to the school, often until midnight. It was unbelievable how hard he worked, and how much he achieved as a teacher, a researcher, an author, an editor, and an administrator. Many of his achievements were in no small part due to the boundless support he received from his wife, Helen, and their three daughters. Helen accompanied him to meetings and conferences; she organized the home front and opened her home to students, especially international students who otherwise would sometimes have felt lost soon after their arrival in Canada.
After being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in his mid-50s, Dean Reginald Thomson retired from the University of Prince Edward Island in 1991 and returned to Woodstock, Ontario, his place of birth.
In December 2002, he passed away at the age of 68.
