WEB Vetnews May 2015

People I Mense

Professor Philip Boyazoglu turns Eighty

B orn in Thessaloniki, Greece on 9 March 1935, Philip Boyazoglu always has had a passion for animals. His father was Director of Agriculture in Northern Greece and often took him along on trips to the country side, instilling in Philip a love for open spaces. His grandfather gave him a lamb, which he kept on the vacant plot next his parent’s house, together with his bunnies and a hen which was given to him as a day-old chick. During 1940 his family emigrated to South Africa. During his youth, Philip spent many happy hours on his parents’ farm “Modderfontein” in the Heidelberg district. While he was away at boarding school, his mother would look after his animals, including a German Shepherd, whose puppies he sold during the school holidays. With money so raised he bought his first horse, starting a love affair with these noble animals that still continues. This first horse was Nickie, a Basuto pony, which was unschooled and naughty (as ponies can be) when he bought her and taught him his first lessons in horse behaviour. Philip tells of his first attempt at training her: “Nickie had to be tamed and schooled. I thought I knew how and planted a pole in the ground, slid a ring over it and tied a long riempie to the ring. Poor Nickie was tied to the other end and all was set. I cracked my whip and Nickie, instead of trotting in a lovely circle around the pole, came galloping full steam ahead, passing me where I stood. As the riempie snapped I grabbed it. Nickie gallantly carried on with me hanging on for dear life bouncing across the veld on my belly.” But he succeeded and, when he married Irene and moved

to Centurion, Nickie joined them, to rule over their Arab and Anglo-Arab horse stud and eventually became a school master who taught the four 4 children to ride. In 1966 he established the Al Gamila Arabian Horse Stud, breeding top quality Arabian and Anglo-Arabian horses – an ongoing endeavour. He bred numerous in-hand and under- saddle champions and national champions and was twice awarded Supreme Inter-breed Championships. He also served as councillor and vice- president of the Arab Horse Society of SA and as South African representative on the World Arabian Horse Organisation. While at Medunsa, he established the Medunsa Anglo-Arabian Stud and a dairy goat herd, used for undergraduate and post-graduate teaching and outreach programmes. His academic and research career started with his graduation as veterinarian from Onderstepoort in 1960. As newly qualified veterinarian he joined the Nutrition Section of the Veterinary Research Institute at Onderstepoort. He was awarded a post-graduate scholarship and joined the University of Minnesota Graduate School as research assistant, where he worked and studied until 1964. He was awarded a PhD (his thesis was on “Sulphur-Selenium-Vitamin E relationships in the nutrition of sheep”). He returned to Onderstepoort as Head of the Nutrition Section at the Veterinary Research Institute, a post he held until 1974. During this time he also was a part-time senior lecturer at the Faculty of Veterinary Science. In 1974 he joined Panvet (Pty) Ltd, an animal health company, as managing director,

and stayed with them until 1982. He than joined the Faculty of Veterinary Science at Medunsa as Professor and Head of the Department Animal Health and Production. During his career he established the Veterinary Nutrition Laboratory and also established the curriculum for the “Equine Nutrition” module at the than Pretoria Technikon and the “Animal Health” curriculum for the than University of the North- West. On his retirement, the Faculty of Veterinary Science bestowed him with Witwatersrand Agricultural Society and a member of the SAVA, SAEVA and the SA Society of Animal Science. He also is a director of the National Horse Trust. He has always played an active role in the community and was the founding chairman of the Centurion Hospice Association and a founder and President of the Centurion Rotary Club, where he was the recipient of the Paul Harris Award. Professor Boyazoglu has supervised numerous postgraduate students enrolled for MMedVet (Nutritional Pathology), MMedVet (Aves) and PhD. He was author or co-author on many articles published in scientific journals and the lay press, making contributions both to scientific knowledge and education of the community. He also was co-author (with JW Groenewald) of the book “Animal Nutrition” published in 1980, and author of the revised edition published in 1997. An active and full career indeed! VetNews congratulates Prof Boyazoglu on his 80th birthday! v the title “Professor Emeritus”. He is a Life Vice-President of the

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Mei/May 2015