Internationally recognized Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory leader dies

Konrad Eugster, DVM, Ph.D., executive director emeritus of the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory, TVMDL, died July 21. Eugster was the second TVMDL director, serving from 1980 to 2002 – the longest tenure of a director in agency history.

Eugster was instrumental in discovering several diseases new to Texas, including canine parvovirus and respiratory diseases in livestock, dogs and cats.

Eugster was born in 1938 and grew up on a dairy farm in a small alpine village in Austria. After obtaining his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Vienna Veterinary College, he practiced large animal medicine in Austria and Switzerland. In 1964, he moved to the U.S. and served as a virologist at the Southwest Foundation for Research and Education in San Antonio. He earned his doctorate in veterinary microbiology from Colorado State University.

TVMDL contributions and leadership

Following graduation, he started his career at TVMDL as head of veterinary microbiology. During his 10 years in that position, he discovered several diseases new to Texas and in some cases, new to the world.

He was the first to isolate canine parvovirus II and published the first report on this disease in world literature. His research led to the development of an effective parvovirus vaccine.

He also found several pathogenic organisms for the first time in Texas causing diseases, such as chlamydial infections in cattle and goats, coronavirus infections in horses and pigs, infectious bovine rhinotracheitis encephalitis in cattle, enteric rotavirus in foals, calves, dogs and zoo nurseries, parapox virus infection in goats, and respiratory syncytial virus infections in foals and cats.

In 1980, he was appointed by The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents to serve as TVMDL’s executive director. He later received the additional title of associate vice chancellor for agriculture.

Under his 22-year leadership at TVMDL, the budget increased 10-fold and the caseload five-fold. The physical facilities in College Station and Amarillo doubled in size, and in 2001 he also obtained the funds to replace the old poultry diagnostic laboratory in Center, Texas, with a new facility.

He was instrumental in the transfer of the poultry diagnostic program from the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station to TVMDL, the establishment of the drug testing program for the pari-mutuel horse and greyhound racing industry, the creation of the aquaculture diagnostics, molecular diagnostics and the endocrinology sections at TVMDL.

Honors and accolades

Eugster was committed to providing outstanding service to TVMDL clients and was able to instill this service attitude in the staff. The clientele showed their satisfaction and gratitude by bestowing on him various honors and recognitions. The Texas Veterinary Medical Association, TVMA, named him “Veterinarian of the Year – Distinguished Achievement” in 1984. TVMA also presented him twice with the President’s Award.

The Texas A&M University System, the Texas Animal Health Commission, the Texas Poultry Federation, the Texas Pork Producers, the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association and the Texas and American Brahman Association each honored him with certificates of appreciation, lifetime achievement awards and industry service awards.

He was a member of many local, state, national and international organizations. In 1988 he served as president of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, AAVLD, and from 1999-2001 as president of the World Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, WAVLD.

The AAVLD honored him in 1994 with the coveted EL Pope Award, the AVMA with the XII International Congress Award and the American Veterinary Epidemiology Society with the Gold-Headed Cane Award in 2003.

Continued service after retirement

After retiring from the agency in 2002, he worked in various capacities for TVMDL, the Institute for Countermeasures Against Bioterrorism, and the International Agriculture Program at Texas A&M University. In the later capacity, he helped improve the veterinary diagnostic infrastructure in Columbia, Nicaragua, Brazil, Thailand, China, Ethiopia and El Salvador.

Eugster will be remembered as one who greatly improved the veterinary diagnostic capabilities and capacities in Texas and to some degree, in the nation and the world.

He was a leader who instilled by example the virtue and value of hard work, dedication and foresight. His vision of embracing new techniques, ideas and concepts and transforming them into timely, high-quality service outputs of benefit to the client has and will continue to serve TVMDL for generations to come.

Obituary information

Public visitation hours and family eulogies will be from 5-7 p.m. July 31, with a rosary to follow at the Memorial Funeral Chapel College Station, 2901 Texas Avenue South, College Station. Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Aug. 1 at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in College Station. Burial will follow immediately at the Aggie Field of Honor and Memorial Cemetery at 3800 Raymond Stotzer Parkway in College Station.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests gifts to establish the A. Konrad Eugster Memorial Awards Fund for TVMDL. Donations can be made to the Texas A&M Foundation at 401 George Bush Drive, College Station, Texas 77840. Please note the memorial in your donation.

To learn more about Eugster and his legacy of service, view his full obituary.