D.V.M. Tom Thomas Edward Vice

Thomas Edward Vice, D.V.M., longtime veterinarian and dedicated participant in San Antonio's animal welfare efforts died at home on March 16, 2016. He was preceded in death by parents Edward Thomas and Lola Elizabeth Williams Vice and is survived by: his wife, Betty; brother-in-law Robert Brockman, San Diego, California; a sister, Diane E. Armstrong, of Chesterton, Indiana and a brother, John H. Vice and wife Nancy, of Indianapolis, Indiana; niece Cheryl Cox and her husband Lee, San Antonio; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Born on October 15, 1933 in Huntingdon, Indiana, Vice was raised in Wabash, IN, where he graduated from Wabash High School in 1951, and later enrolled at Michigan State University that same year. He was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in 1955 and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 1957. He joined the United States Air Force as a Veterinary Corps officer assigned to Kelly Air Force Base, San Antonio, where he first met Betty whom he married on August 7, 1959.

Upon his release from active duty service in 1959, Vice associated with the Blue Cross Animal Hospital located on the west side of San Antonio. In 1963, he established the then-Broadway Animal Hospital and also became one of the first veterinarians at Southwest Foundation for Research and Education (now the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research), dividing his time between both efforts and often working a minimum of 12 to 14 hours a day. Vice's reputation as a premier practitioner led to his being offered in 1964 the position of staff veterinarian for the San Antonio Zoo, necessitating the retention of an associate veterinarian to help see the clinic patients. Reflecting what would become his characteristic, tireless commitment to caring for all animals, Vice for the next three years until 1968 commuted daily on Loop 410 between the Foundation and the animal hospital, and then heading down Broadway Street from the hospital to the zoo.

At the same time, there were no emergency animal clinics in the city of San Antonio so Vice was essentially on-call 24 hours a day, operating his practice on a walk-in basis in order to see as many patients as possible who needed veterinary services. The Broadway Animal Hospital, later named a Heritage Practice by the Texas Veterinary Medical Association, established a reputation not only for its companion animal services that included traditional pets such as dogs and cats, but also for its care of birds, reptiles and multiple exotics. While his primary professional activities focused on the work at the animal hospital, he still managed to find time to oversee the veterinary care for the Alligator Gardens at Brackenridge Park. In 1983, as a result of his knowledge in the field of 'non-traditional species', Vice was asked to serve as an adjunct faculty member at Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas. That same year he was also named Companion Animal Practitioner of the Year by the Texas Veterinary Medical Society. Other awards include the Achievement Award, San Antonio North Chamber of Commerce; Distinguished Alumnus, Michigan State University, College of Veterinary Medicine; Non-traditional Species Practitioner of the Year, Texas Veterinary Medical Association; The Stacy R. Randall, DVM, DACVIM Distinguished Achievement Award in Veterinary Clinical Medicine, South Texas Veterinary Specialists; and the Vetted Award, Talk About It! SA, San Antonio Area Foundation.

Vice's list of accomplishments, professional associations and community activities are extensive and include serving as a board member of: the San Antonio Humane Society; San Antonio Guide Dogs for the Blind; Primarily Primates; Delta Society; and the Veterinary Technical School, Palo Alto, Alamo Community Colleges. He was a charter member of the American Association of Avian Veterinarians and the Texas Academy of Veterinary Practitioners and a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association; Vice also served as a Community Liaison Committee Member, Department of Dental Hygiene, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, and on the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District, Advisory Board of Health. He was also a member of American Veterinary Medical Association, American Animal Hospital Association, Veterinary Medical Association of Bexar County, American Association of Laboratory Animal Medicine, American Association of Zoo Veterinarians, American Association of Avian Veterinarians and the American Association of Avian Pathologists.

An early advocate of spaying and neutering services to control the homeless pet population in San Antonio, Vice for over 12 years promoted humane education and the value of pet adoption on KSAT-12 television's Good Morning San Antonio in addition to serving as host for 18 years of Pet Talk, WOAI radio. His efforts to inform the community directly contributed to the No-Kill Initiative and resulting substantial improvements in San Antonio's 'live-release' rates of adoptable dogs and cats.

Vice was at heart an educator, speaker, and storyteller, often asked to preside at seminars and symposiums around the country, especially in the field of avian medicine, at: TVMA Annual Meeting, Houston Texas; Texas A&M University conferences, College Station Texas; Veterinary School, Tuskegee Alabama; Tarrant County Veterinary Medical Association, Fort Worth Texas; Coastal Bend Veterinary Medical Associations, Corpus Christi Texas; Parrot & Caged Bird Association, San Antonio Texas; and River City Bird Club, San Antonio Texas. Veterinarians around the state frequently referred their bird patients to Dr. Vice in San Antonio, lauding his unique skills and avian insight as well as his specialized diagnostic care.

In 2005, Vice sold his practice to Pat Richardson, D.V.M., where despite ongoing health challenges, he continued to see patients in the renamed Broadway Oaks Animal Hospital until 2015.

THE FAMILY REQUESTS THAT IN LIEU OF FLOWERS, FRIENDS AND FANS MAY DONATE TO: The Dr. Thomas E. Vice Fund at the San Antonio Area Foundation; The Dr. Thomas Vice Veterinary Scholarship Fund at Texas A&M; the San Antonio Humane Society; or an animal welfare charity of choice.