The John Alexander Chair in Large Animal Reproduction was created
in 2001 to honor John Alexander, a member of the Professional
Veterinary Medical Class of 2000, following his death in 1999 from
a skiing accident. In January 2007, Dr. Gordon Woods accepted the Chair
as well as the position of Director of the Equine Reproduction Laboratory.
“It has been a great privilege to accept the John Alexander Chair in Large Animal Reproduction,” said Dr. Woods. “I know that the work that I do here at Colorado State University will honor the memory of John and the wishes of his family to recognize John’s passion for equine medicine. In their time of great sorrow, they took it upon themselves to create something good out of tragedy and I commend them for their actions.”
John Alexander was born and raised in Geneva, Illinois, and attended Taft School in Connecticut. Partially because of his love of the outdoors, and skiing and fishing, John moved to Colorado and attended the University of Colorado, graduating in 1994. While at CU, John made up his mind to pursue his interest in equine medicine and began his veterinary medical training at Colorado State University.
“He started out with an interest in architecture at CU, but decided that equine medicine was more to his liking,” said Duncan Alexander, who was John’s uncle. “He was especially interested in the reproductive side. He was fascinated by his veterinary studies, and had an intense interest in how and why things worked. John thought the world of his school and of his classmates and teachers. They were a very special group of people.”
Duncan Alexander and his brothers Tom and John Sr., who is John’s father, created the Chair with a joint contribution. Dr. Tony Knight, who was head of the Department of Clinical Sciences at the time of John’s death, said the loss devastated John’s classmates and faculty, who knew him well. In his third year of the Professional Veterinary Medical program, John had become a natural leader and often was a spokesman for his class. He was an active member of the Class of 2000 who clearly enjoyed life to the fullest and had many friends.
With the John Alexander Chair in Large Animal Reproduction now occupied, John Alexander leaves two legacies that will fulfill for others the dreams that John and his family had for himself. The other is the John Alexander Memorial Scholarship, established by John’s classmates after his death. Both the scholarship and the Chair will enable students and faculty interested in large animal reproduction to pursue careers and studies that John himself would have liked.
