AASV was saddened to hear of the passing of Dr. Lewis J. Runnels, a Charter and Life Member of AASV. Dr. Runnels, age 95, died peacefully of natural causes on November 8, 2020, at Westminster Village Health Care, West Lafayette, Indiana.
He was born to Lewis C. and Mazie Runnels on June 13, 1925 in Wichita, Kansas and graduated from Wichita High School North in 1942. He attended a summer session at Wichita University in 1942 before matriculating at Kansas State University where he graduated from the College of Veterinary Medicine in 1946. He was a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity at KSU.
He married Nancy Lee Wilcox on May 2, 1948, in Hutchinson, Kansas. She preceded him in death on August 16, 2012. Lewis’s sister Anelda passed away in 1992.
After graduating from Kansas State University, Dr. Runnels located to Garrett, Indiana, and began his practice of veterinary medicine. He was called up to serve in the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps as a Captain from 1953 to 1955. After his service, he relocated to Darlington, Indiana, where he and Nancy raised their family. He joined in a partnership with Dr. Henry Lidikay and Dr. John Coltrain in a predominantly farm animal practice. In 1969, he was hired as a Visiting Professor in the School of Veterinary Medicine at Purdue University. He was promoted to Associate Professor of Large Animal Medicine and Surgery in 1970 and Professor in 1975. In those roles, he influenced a cadre of veterinarians who have been leaders among swine veterinarians. His expertise in swine herd health was widely recognized as he was a frequent speaker at professional and producer meetings in the United States and Asia. In 1984 the American Association of Swine Veterinarians awarded him the Howard Dunne Memorial Award for service to the swine industry and he was awarded the Producer Service Award by the Indiana Swine Specific Pathogen Free Association in 1975 and 1987. In 1984, he joined the faculty of Purdue’s Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory as Professor of Diagnostic Medicine and consulted statewide on diagnostic problems in farm animals. He retired from Purdue in 1990 as emeritus Professor of Diagnostic Medicine.
His memberships included the American Veterinary Medical Association, the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, the American Association of Swine Veterinarians, Indiana Veterinary Association, The Indiana Academy of Veterinary Medicine and the Indiana State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners, for which he served a term as Chairman in the 1960’s. Locally, he was a member of the Rotary Club of Lafayette and the Federated Church of West Lafayette where he served on the Board of Trustees and the Endowment Board.
In addition to his professional activities, ‘Lewi’ was an avid canoeist whose favorite places to practice that art with friends and family were Sugar Creek in Indiana and the Boundary Waters in Minnesota.
He is survived by his two sons, Bruce R. (Katherine) Runnels, Fort Collins, Colorado and Dr. Paul L. (Janice) Runnels, Richland, Michigan, as well as a granddaughter, Hannah Lee Runnels, also of Fort Collins, Colorado.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Federated Church of West Lafayette Foundation, 2400 Sycamore Lane, West Lafayette, IN, 47906; to the Lewis Runnels Endowment for Swine Production Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine Development Office, 625 Harrison Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907; or to the Westminster Village Foundation, 2741 N. Salisbury, West Lafayette, IN 47906.
He is interred with his beloved wife Nancy at the Tippecanoe Memory Gardens.