Abstract
Dr. William “Bill” John Hartley, of Gosford, New South Wales (NSW), Australia, passed away peacefully on August 28, 2014. Throughout his 53 years in the veterinary profession, Bill Hartley enjoyed a distinguished and diverse career, with roles as a clinician, laboratory diagnostic officer, field disease investigator, researcher, and university lecturer. During his career, Bill developed varied professional interests and expertise, including neuropathology, pathology of poisonous plants, perinatal mortality of large animals, protozoology, and comparative pathology of wildlife. Bill’s passion for comparative pathology and his advancement of the profession are exemplified through the students, clinicians, and pathologists he inspired and mentored; the 200 peer-reviewed papers that he authored; and the 3 comparative pathology registries that he established.
Bill Hartley was kind, generous with his time and experience, and committed to investigating and describing emerging diseases of domestic and wild animals. To this end, Bill was driven to create pathology registries as a means to share diagnostic materials among varied stakeholders; to improve animal health, welfare, and management; to provide opportunities for training and research; and to facilitate the detection and characterization of emerging diseases.
Bill was born in England in 1922. His natural curiosity took him to large animal practice in New Zealand (NZ) not long after graduation from the Royal Veterinary College in England in 1945. Bill began his career as a pathologist at Wallaceville Animal Research Station, NZ, conducting diagnostic investigations into the diseases of livestock over a 12-year period. Additional study in pathology followed at Dundee Royal Infirmary, Scotland, in 1953. Bill then joined the University of Sydney as a lecturer in 1962, where he established a diagnostic service to support staff and student research. During his tenure at the University of Sydney, he contributed to the United Nations Development Program, establishing a diagnostic laboratory and conducting disease investigations in Pendik, Turkey, 1968–1969. Bill undertook additional postgraduate training in neuropathology and electron microscopy at Cambridge Veterinary School, England, in 1972, and upon completion, he was based at the Equine Research Station, Newmarket, investigating equine perinatal mortality.
Keen to return to New Zealand, Bill accepted a diagnostic post at Wallaceville Animal Research Station NZ in 1981 and proceeded to establish the Pathology Register of Diseases of Farm Animals. This was followed by 13 years of dedicated service to the Taronga Conservation Society Australia, where he established what is now known as the Australian Registry of Wildlife Health. Bill was concurrently appointed at the NSW Glenfield Animal Research Station, where he established the Pathology Register of Diseases of Production and Companion Animals. He was also consultant pathologist to the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal Research Service Poisonous Plants Laboratory for more than 18 years, providing expertise and advice regarding plant toxicities.
Although Bill was humble and not one to seek the spotlight, his achievements and encyclopedic knowledge of investigative and comparative pathology were acknowledged through the following: Fellowship of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, Fellowship of the Royal College of Pathology, Master of Veterinary Science, Doctor of Science, Fellowship of the Australian College of Veterinary Scientists, Peter Olafson Gold Medal (Cornell University, United States), and Member of the Order of Australia.
Bill is survived by his children Elizabeth, James, Alexandra, Sophia, and Julian and his grandchildren Adrien, Ben, Freya, Isabella, and Sinclair, to whom we extend our sincere condolences. We will miss him dearly.