RALEIGH - N.C. State University broke ground today on its $72 million animal hospital, a building expected to transform both the Raleigh campus and veterinary medicine in the state.

Paid for with $38 million in taxpayer dollars and $20 million from the foundation started by the late High Point Enterprise Publisher Randall B. Terry Jr., the new hospital will serve the most difficult, complicated problems vexing companion animals.

It will feature 115,000 square feet of space off Hillsborough Street for research, surgery and examinations, allowing 30,000 people to be served each year. The tightly packed current hospital was built to handle 12,000 people a year and has been squeezing in closer to 20,000.

"People view their animals differently now," said Warwick Arden, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine. "They're no longer farm animals or backyard animals, they're part of the family. They're seeking that level of service."

The referral hospital is made possible by a $20 million pledge from the R.B. Terry Jr. Charitable Foundation. It is the largest private gift ever to N.C. State University. The General Assembly appropriated $38 million for the facility and additional private funds will pay for the remainder of the $72 million project.

The new medical center is named in honor of the late philanthropist and former president of the North Carolina Veterinary Medical Foundation (NCVMF). Terry, who died in May 2004, had previously donated more than $4 million to the CVM in challenge grants and student scholarships while he was serving two terms as NCVMF president.

The businessman, who was the publisher of the High Point Enterprise and partner in the International Home Furnishing Center in High Point, became a longtime friend of the CVM after Nike, one of his six golden retrievers, was treated at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH).

“In the past 20 years there has been a strong trend toward specialization and even sub-specialization within the veterinary profession,” says Dr. Michael Davidson, Associate Dean and Director of Veterinary Medical Services. “The design of the Terry Center will feature separate pavilions for specialty practices as well as cutting-edge technologies for imaging, cardiac care, cancer treatments, internal medicine, and surgery.”

The expansive Terry Center will accommodate more patients. When built in 1982, the current tertiary care VTH had a planned annual capacity of 12,000 cases. Last year private practice veterinarians referred close to 20,000 patients to be diagnosed and treated by hospital staff.

“Mr. Terry’s generosity is transforming the CVM,” says Dean Arden. “Beyond the immediate care for small animals, the Terry Center and the continued support of the Terry Foundation is instrumental in helping us create the Centennial Biomedical Campus and encourages our work in a myriad of areas. These efforts include biomedical research, bio and agro security, food animal health and food safety, ecosystem health, animal welfare, and the critical job training of the next generation of veterinarians and veterinary scientists.”