Health problems force Eyre from long-time deanship

Blacksburg, Va.-Dr. Peter Eyre, dean of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine since 1985, announces his immediate resignation citing health reasons.

Dr. Peter Eyre

The 67-year-old veterinarian sustained a pulmonary embolism earlier this year. Dr. Gerhardt Schurig, associate dean for research and graduate studies, has been appointed interim dean.

Eyre refuses to speak publicly concerning his departure. Instead, he releases a statement thanking faculty and staff while showing his humor is intact.

"Having a pulmonary embolism/infarct in August, followed by continuous warfarin intoxication was not exactly what I had planned for the Fall semester!" Eyre writes. "I found myself riding on a very unfamiliar emotional roller coaster, and I simply had to get off! (I have never really had to face my mortality before).

"After 24 years as a college administrator, this is not easy; however, it was the right decision. The college must move on without the burdens of uncertainty and speculation."

Eyre earned his veterinary medical degree and Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Prior to assuming the Virginia-Maryland deanship, he chaired the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Guelph's Ontario Veterinary College in Canada, where he also served as associate director of the Canadian Centre for Toxicology.

During Eyre's 18-year tenure at Virginia-Maryland, the college has emerged as the nation's leader in preparing veterinarians for government and industry, college officials say. Eyre also has been responsible for the acquisition and completion of more than $1.2 million in sponsored grants and contracts and has authored 350 scientific publications.

He has been honored for outstanding leadership by the Virginia Veterinary Medical Association, Maryland Veterinary Medical Association and the Blue Ridge Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.

Eyre recently was named president of the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges. He resigns the role simultaneously with the deanship.