Randall Terry’s golden retrievers fetch gold for NC State vet school
With friends like the late Randall B. Terry Jr., N.C. State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine will only make ... more friends. Terry, the late co-publisher of the High Point Enterprise, created a charitable foundation that has given more than $47 million to the vet school since 1996.
Faculty, friends and students gathered Monday to announce the latest gift, and it was a tremendous one: There will be another $16 million from Terry. He used to take his nine golden retrievers to the school.
The latest gift will be divided in productive ways. Half of the money will go to student scholarships, which will double that fund. Another $5 million out of the gift will boost endowed professorships, and $3 million will go into research.
It was $20 million from Terry’s foundation that helped to build N.C. State’s state-of-the-art medical center, which opened in 2011 to the wonder of all who saw it then and have seen it since. The facility is one reason the school has been ranked as high as third-best in the nation. As NCSU Chancellor Randy Woodson said Monday, Terry’s love for his dogs and his appreciation for what the school did for them “moved him to build a medical education center like no other in the world.”
The vast campus of the school provides a place for miracle-working treatment and a measure of comfort for pet owners, farmers and all who love and want the best for their animals. Compassion and skill in dealing with human owners are part of the school’s charm, of course, and the “vet school,” as it’s known hereabouts, has been viewed with affection and respect by the Triangle community in particular.
The reputation is growing. Before the new medical center was built, the university’s animal hospital treated 12,000 patients every year. Now the number is 28,000. And there is the difference a university, a great benefactor and nine precious pets can make.
This story was originally published April 28, 2015 at 7:17 PM with the headline "Randall Terry’s golden retrievers fetch gold for NC State vet school."