Dr. F. Loew dies; leaves legacy

Worcester, Mass.-Dr. Franklin M. Loew, a veterinary leader and icon, died of a rare form of cancer in April.

Loew, president of Becker College, had also served as dean of two ofthe veterinary programs at both Tufts University and Cornell University.

Dr. Bruce Stronach, provost and chief operating officer of Becker College,says, "Since his original diagnoses with a rare form of cancer in 2000,Dr. Loew remained ever the optimist and a boundless reservoir of energyand ideas."

"While leading Becker College for the past five years, PresidentLoew helped attract nationally renowned speakers to campus including PoetLaureate Stanley Kunitz and scientist Jane Goodall. He remained an outspokenadvocate for a number of causes close to his heart, including The UnitedWay, The Humane Society of the United States, The Antiquarian Society andthe MSPCA," Stronach says. "President Loew was hugely popularon campus. He knew many of the 1,000 students and every employee by nameand never failed to greet all with a warm smile and a hardy welcome. Hispresence will be missed in ways that can never be expressed."

Loew's career was rich in diversity.

Before taking a position at Becker College, he was president and chiefexecutive officer of Medical Foods Inc. He held two doctorates: one in veterinarymedicine and one in nutrition, and was an elected member of the NationalAcademy of Science's Institute of Medicine. He was a division director atJohns Hopkins School of Medicine, and was a professor at Canada's Universityof Saskatchewan, where he was a medical research council fellow. He wasalso a visiting scientist at M.I.T. and a senior fellow at Tufts.

He served as a consultant to many universities, foundations, governmentagencies and companies, including Columbia and Ohio State universities,the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Foodand Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, NASA, the SmithsonianInstitution and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He was also a memberof several non-profit boards of trustees, including the New England Aquariumand the Tuskegee Advisory Committee for the Center of Bioethics and HealthCare Policy.

He chaired a National Research Council committee to review all intramuraland extramural research programs at USDA. Previous board memberships includethe Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, the BostonZoological Society (where he was chair), the Baltimore Zoological Society,and the NRC's Commission on Life Sciences and ILAR, which he chaired.

In the 1970's, Loew was on the team in western Canada that helped developwhat is now known as canola oil. His doctoral degrees were from Canada'sUniversity of Saskatchewan and from Cornell University, where he also receivedhis undergraduate degree. In 1977, he received a Queen's Jubilee Medal fromthe Governor-General of Canada.

Donations can be made on his behalf to the Franklin M. Loew MemorialFund at Becker College, HSUS or the ASPCA.