AU ALUMNUS GIVES $1 MILLION TO COLLEGE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE
Retired veterinarian Bruce Pratt of Beaufort, S.C., has donated $1 million to Auburn University’s College of Veterinary Medicine to fund an endowed professorship.
The gift will help his alma mater recruit and retain top faculty in the Department of Clinical Sciences, which consists of both large and small animal teaching hospitals and a radiology section.
“I appreciate Auburn and the veterinary education I received,” said Pratt, a member of the class of 1953. “I have met and shaken hands with five of Auburn’s six veterinary deans. Dean (Timothy) Boosinger has continued the college’s excellence and I am confident my gift will be put to good use and will help future generations.”
In honor of Pratt, the College of Veterinary Medicine recently hosted a reception for him, his family and friends. College officials presented him with a commemorative, engraved chair and announced the formal naming of the Bruce G. Pratt Distinguished Professorship in Veterinary Medicine.
“Private gifts, such as the one by Dr. Pratt, leave a legacy for all future veterinarians,” Dean Boosinger said. “Endowed professorships are becoming more and more important for educational institutions. They make the difference between having good programs and great programs.”
Pratt, who moved to Beaufort, S.C., from Wisconsin when he was seven years old, graduated high school from The Hill School in Pottstown, Pa. He then served in the U.S. Air Force for three years. Upon graduation from Auburn in 1953, he returned to Beaufort and operated Holly Hall Animal Hospital until 1993.
He inherited the $1 million he donated from his grandparents. His grandfather was one of the founders of Feenamint, a laxative firm, which ultimately joined Schering-Plough, a pharmaceutical company. Pratt’s grandmother founded the Rockland County, N.Y., Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Pratt says his classmate, Peter Muller, encouraged him two years ago to join the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Centennial Club, a group devoted to raising support for the college.
“I wanted to support Auburn even more, which led to this gift,” Pratt said. “There are many others who helped make this gift possible, and I would like to thank them as well.”
Pratt’s financial advisor, Mike Wise of Neenah, Wis., and his legal consul, Ginny Shuman of Charleston, S.C., worked closely with AU development officers Sam Hendrix and Diana Childers in coordinating the gift.
Auburn University is currently undergoing its largest fundraising campaign ever. The “It Begins at Auburn” campaign is a $500 million comprehensive campaign that will raise funds for all colleges and schools on campus as well as the library, athletics, Auburn University at Montgomery and the museum. The campaign’s focus includes student, faculty and program endowments; facility, equipment and campus beautification; research and current operations.
The veterinary program at Auburn University is the oldest in the South and has been a continuous program since 1892. More than 5,600 doctors of veterinary medicine have graduated since the first degrees were officially awarded in 1909.
