By Maggie Baum
Read more tributes, or submit your own, here
The UW Vet Med community mourns the loss of founding Dean Emerit Bernard C. Easterday, whose vast contributions to the veterinary science community and the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine (SVM) spanned nearly eight decades. Easterday died March 17, 2026. He was 96.
“Dr. Easterday’s leadership was essential to creating the SVM and shaping it into the renowned institution it is today,” says current Dean Jon Levine. “As an internationally recognized educator and virologist, he deepened our understanding of how influenza viruses are transmitted between animals and humans. And, as our school’s founding dean and long-time leader, his legacy was built on an unwavering commitment to education, innovation, leadership, and excellence.”
Easterday grew up in Michigan, where he graduated from Hillsdale High School in 1947 and went on to earn his DVM degree with high honors from Michigan State University in 1952. After graduation, he returned to his hometown and began his dream career as a large animal veterinarian. He was called to active service as an officer in the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps in the early 1950s, including a year in Kenya on a small team of veterinarians conducting research on rinderpest and African swine fever — the start of what would become a lifelong love for, and dedication to, Africa.
Returning stateside, Easterday landed at UW-Madison, where his leadership was instrumental in the transformation of how veterinary science and medicine were taught and learned. He earned his MS in 1958 and his PhD in 1961 from the College of Agricultural & Life Sciences (CALS). He was appointed associate professor of veterinary science in 1961 and promoted to professor in 1966. He served as chair of the Department of Veterinary Science — then housed within CALS — from 1968 to 1974.
Shaping an institution
The effort to establish the SVM as its own college within the university was a significant undertaking that spanned years of advocacy, organizing, and planning — an effort in which Easterday was a guiding force through turbulent years of political controversy. The SVM was officially established in 1979 with Easterday named as founding dean, launching a $15.5 million, 230,000-square-foot construction project. The school opened its doors to the first class of 80 future veterinarians at the start of the fall semester in 1983.
Sue Hyland (’70 MS’73 PhD ’78) was a key partner who worked with Easterday and others to lobby the state Legislature to bring the school to life, instilling in lawmakers the value the school would bring to the state. Upon the school’s founding, she served as assistant dean for academic affairs.
“Barney had established himself during his time as head of veterinary science — he was good at it, his heart was in it, and he had good relationships with people in agriculture and in business. His leadership in championing the SVM as an important asset for the state is eventually what made the difference [in establishing the school],” she says.
Drawing a compelling visual, Hyland adds fondly: “We had cattle coming in the back door, dogs coming in the front, and students running up the stairs.”
Long-time faculty member Dale Bjorling (Dept. of Surgical Sciences) remembers the early years well, and how Easterday’s tenacity in the establishment of the SVM was foundational to what is now a health sciences hub on the west end of the UW-Madison campus.
When he arrived in fall of 1985, Bjorling says, “I quickly learned a majority of senior faculty in other schools and colleges were of the opinion that there were far better purposes [for the SVM’s] space on Linden Drive, but Barney had the vision, commitment of purpose, and just plain stubbornness to handle any pushback.”
Not long after the SVM’s founding, the university’s schools of both Nursing and Pharmacy relocated to nearby sites, forming a true health sciences hub anchored in collaboration, innovation, and discovery.
Christopher Olsen (Dept. of Pathobiological Sciences) developed a close relationship with Easterday over the years and benefitted from his mentorship and friendship.
“He was a really astute judge of talent, and when he formed the initial cadre of department chairs, he did so in such a way that they would then develop faculty,” Olsen says. “His original decision not to have faculty offices grouped by department — with one group on one floor and another group on a different floor — is very atypical. He set the standard that our faculty be intermixed because he felt even conversations in the hallway could spark important connections.”
During Easterday’s tenure, the SVM rose to a position of national prominence that it still maintains today. Upon his retirement in 1994, Easterday was appointed professor emeritus and dean emeritus and his commitment to the UW continued, demonstrated by his service in a variety of university roles (see career timeline here).
Groundbreaking discoveries, critical leadership
Alongside all of the investments he made as an academic, educator, and mentor, Easterday was perhaps best known globally for his research into infectious diseases of animals and humans. Most notable among his scientific contributions were his research on the pathogenesis of Rift Valley Fever and his studies of swine and avian influenza viruses and their relationship to human influenza. In collaboration with Ronaldean Pawlisch (’50), he was the first to demonstrate conclusively the natural transmission of swine flu from pigs to human beings.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Easterday and his colleagues recovered and characterized many different influenza viruses from free-flying birds of various species and contributed to the evidence of a reservoir of influenza viruses in waterfowl and the potential for the reassortment of influenza virus gene segments in those species. He also studied aspects of the pathogenesis and immunology of infectious bovine rhinotracheitis virus, transmissible gastroenteritis virus of swine, and bovine and swine herpes viruses. His work was documented in more than 150 refereed journal publications, more than 25 book chapters, and via numerous invited lectures around the world.
For 30 years, Easterday participated in and contributed to the World Health Organization Coordinated Study on Animal Influenzas, helping bring together scientists from different countries to coordinate studies and attempt to understand animal influenza viruses and their relationship to their human counterparts.
He also served for several years on the US-USSR Agreement on Influenza and Respiratory Disease Program as the principal coordinator for studies of the ecology of influenza, making several trips to the Soviet Union and hosting Soviet scientists in Wisconsin.
After decades spent traveling the globe and creating the foundation of one the nation’s top veterinary medical schools, most days “Barney” could still be found in the halls of the SVM, interacting with faculty, staff, and students.
More than a mentor
Mark Markel (Dept. of Surgical Sciences) joined the SVM faculty in 1990 and vividly remembers interviewing with Easterday. “The thing that struck me is that he didn’t ask me a thing about veterinary medicine, my research, or what I would do as a faculty member,” Markel says. “He wanted to focus on what I did for leisure and fun and so we talked about exercise and travel for the whole time I was in his office.”
Markel reflected on that later, after he became chair of the Dept. of Surgical Sciences and eventually was named dean himself (Dr. Daryl Buss succeeded Easterday in 1994; Markel began in tenure after Buss, who retired in 2012).
“As I got to know him as an individual, and eventually a friend, what always impressed me – whether he was walking the hallways, or visiting me in my office – he was dedicated to being present with people,” he adds. “He was very proud of what he accomplished here, and well into his 90s he wanted to be a part of the school and continue to contribute to the school. And so he did, and that remained really meaningful to him and to the SVM.”
Kristen Bernard (MS’92 PhD’95), retiring this spring after 17 years as an SVM faculty member and five years as chair of the Dept. of Pathobiological Sciences, was often the willing recipient of historical documents and “vintage” supplies that Easterday still kept stored in his SVM office.
“The fact that he kept coming [to the school] was not just an example of doing what you love, but also an example for all of us of how we can continue to serve,” Bernard says. “He was a strong proponent of fostering leadership in veterinary medicine for women and really served as an advocate and mentor to me in moving toward my role as a department chair.”
Easterday’s work was his lifelong calling and allowed him the opportunity to pursue his additional passion for travel and exploration. Along with his wife and best friend, Charlene (by whom he is survived), they enjoyed riding their motorcycle, flying their airplane — with Easterday as pilot — and serving as escorts for travel groups, especially to Africa and, in particular, Kenya.
Easterday’s legacy spans the entire history of UW Vet Med and has informed the work the school does today as leaders in veterinary medical education, innovation, and outreach. Throughout his career, he compiled a list of awards, affiliations, and accomplishments almost too numerous to name (see career timeline here).
“As an institution, we firmly believe that our strong history infuses and guides our work creating the future of veterinary medicine,” Levine concludes. “We continue to innovate and look forward, as Barney would want us to, with gratitude for his incredible legacy and his many contributions to our community.”