{"id":972,"date":"2019-08-07T21:42:57","date_gmt":"2019-08-07T21:42:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ewda.org\/staging\/4668\/?page_id=972"},"modified":"2019-08-12T08:13:50","modified_gmt":"2019-08-12T08:13:50","slug":"vic-simpson-tribute","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ewda.org\/staging\/4668\/about-us\/vic-simpson-tribute\/","title":{"rendered":"Vic Simpson tribute"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\nVICTOR\nROBERT SIMPSON<\/strong>, BVSc, DTVM,\nCBiol, FIBiol, MRCVS, FRSB, Hon FRCVS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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18\nFebruary 1941 to 31<\/strong>st<\/strong><\/sup>\nJuly 2018 \u2013 died aged 77 years.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the founders of wildlife disease surveillance in Great Britain and a passionate advocate for evidence-based conservation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vic\nSimpson was born in Warwickshire, England, in 1941 and grew up with\na strong interest in natural history. He graduated from the\nUniversity of Bristol in 1964 and began his veterinary career with a\nspell in mixed practice in the West Midlands where he met Jane. Vic\nreturned to further study in the late 60s, gaining the Diploma in\nTropical Medicine from the Royal Dick in Edinburgh. He had an\nadventurous spirit: Vic\u2019s next step was to convert a Land Rover to\na mobile home and spend six months travelling across Europe, Turkey,\nIran, Afghanistan and India, finally shipping the vehicle to Africa\nto join him for his new role. He took up the post of District\nVeterinary Officer in Kisumu, Kenya, and subsequently of Senior\nVeterinary Research Officer in Gaborone, Botswana. Jane became a\nteacher in the Kenya Highlands where they were married.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\nreturned to the UK and set up home in Cornwall in 1979, developing an\nidyllic property over the years into a beautiful family home,\ncomplete with a stunning pond where they and their many visitors\nwould often spend time watching the local wildlife. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vic\nbecame a Veterinary Investigation Officer for the MAFF (later VLA) in\nTruro. He developed close links with the local farmers and\nveterinary practices and was well respected as a conscientious\ninvestigator and livestock pathologist. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In\n2001, at the start of his \u2018so-called\u2019 retirement, Vic was finally\nable to dedicate all his time and energy to free-living wildlife. He\ndid this in his own unique way, converting an outbuilding in their\nbackyard into the aptly named Wildlife Veterinary Investigation\nCentre, or Wildlife \u2018VIC\u2019, where he collected long term datasets\nand sample archives and studied the impact of diseases on wildlife\nspecies. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vic\ncould truly claim to have worked with all creatures great and small,\nattested by stories from colleagues who saw him tackle post-mortem\nexaminations on a range of creatures from pygmy shrew to sei whale.\nHe had an encyclopaedic knowledge of wildlife disease in both\nterrestrial and marine mammals and birds, and a lifelong ethic to\nshare information through peer-reviewed publication. He is perhaps\nbest known for his decades of work, at VLA and the VIC, studying the\nhealth of otters, red squirrels and bats, detecting and helping to\nunderstand the conservation significance of many conditions. He was\ninvolved in the characterisation of anthropogenic threats, such as\ncetacean bycatch and lead poisoning in mute swans, and helped raise\nawareness of measures that could be adopted for their mitigation. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vic\nwas a natural educator and shared his infectious enthusiasm to\ninspire the next generation. He trained vets and biologists at the\nWildlife VIC, offering a unique opportunity to study wildlife\npathology, and lectured on undergraduate and postgraduate courses in\nthe field. He produced videos of post mortem examination protocols\nfor birds of prey and otters, clearly demonstrating his logical and\nmeticulous approach. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vic\ngave decades of contribution to multiple veterinary and conservation\norganisations. He was one of the EWDA\u2019s longest standing members\nand supported the organisation in many ways. Vic and Jane attended\nconferences together, always generous with their time, sharing ideas\nand experience with patience and interest, welcoming new attendees to\nthe fold. Vic\u2019s presentations captured the imagination. He was an\nexcellent communicator, taking the audience through each step of the\ninvestigations that led to a novel discovery. He encouraged the EWDA\nstudent community at every opportunity, giving a memorable talk at\nthe UK Student Chapter Symposium in 2016 on Wildlife Pathology, where\nhe shared his experience of various investigations over the decades\nand their conservation impacts \u2013 motivating many to get involved.\nVic\u2019s significant contribution to the study of wildlife diseases\nwas acknowledged in Berlin, 2016, when he received the Wildlife\nDisease Association\u2019s Emeritus Award. In 2017, Vic gave a generous\ndonation to set up a conference\nattendance fund<\/a> to\nenable people of limited financial means to attend and present at\nEWDA conferences, ensuring many others may benefit from his legacy\nand share his passion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vic\nand Jane were married for 47 years and were an exceptional team. They\nworked so well together on a daily basis at the Wildlife VIC. Vic\ndied peacefully at home on 31st<\/sup>\nJuly 2018 after a period of treatment for cancer. He is survived by\nJane, their children Kate and Robert, and three grand-daughters,\nMartha, Florrie and Maddie. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Friends and colleagues have shared thoughts on Vic\u2019s professionalism, scientific rigour, honesty, dedication, intelligence, tenacity, energy, creativity, drive, zest for life and tremendous, often irreverent, sense of humour \u2013 for these qualities he was widely loved, will be long remembered and sadly missed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

EWDA\ntribute amended from the Veterinary Record obituary published on\nNovember 30<\/em>th<\/em><\/sup>\n2018, written by Becki Lawson, Paul Duff, Fieke Molenaar and other\nfriends and colleagues.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VICTOR ROBERT SIMPSON, BVSc, DTVM, CBiol, FIBiol, MRCVS, FRSB, Hon FRCVS 18 February 1941 to 31st July 2018 \u2013 died aged 77 years. One of the founders of wildlife disease surveillance in Great Britain and a passionate advocate for evidence-based conservation Vic Simpson was born in Warwickshire, England, in 1941 and grew up with a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":155,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-972","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":6}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P9Gjoo-fG","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ewda.org\/staging\/4668\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ewda.org\/staging\/4668\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ewda.org\/staging\/4668\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewda.org\/staging\/4668\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewda.org\/staging\/4668\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=972"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ewda.org\/staging\/4668\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/972\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":982,"href":"https:\/\/ewda.org\/staging\/4668\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/972\/revisions\/982"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewda.org\/staging\/4668\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ewda.org\/staging\/4668\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}