Marvin Twiehaus is credited with the development of the University of Nebraska’s veterinary science facility, the diagnostic laboratories at the North Platte and Scottsbluff experiment, and the Veterinary Science swine and cattle facility at Mead. He is best known for his research work in hog cholera eradication and the development of vaccines to control calf scours. He also directed research resulting in rota and corona viral vaccines to prevent neonatal calf diarrhea.
Since its beginning 61 years ago, the Nebraska Hall of Agricultural Achievement has honored some 70 agricultural leaders. The names appearing on this list include the great leaders in Nebraska Agriculture; and tonight, Dr. Twiehaus, your name will be added to that list – an honor, everyone will agree, that you richly deserve. The Nebraska Hall of Agricultural Achievement has again honored itself by selecting you, Dr. Twiehaus.
I’m pleased to have this opportunity to make this tribute. Dr. Epp informed me that the original manuscript becomes part of the permanent record of the Nebraska Hall, so these remarks will also remain for posterity.
Dr. Twiehaus was born in Levsay in the “show-me” state of Missouri in 1911, and I believe he acquired the “show-me” characteristic early. I don't believe he has ever accepted “can’t be done” as a proper answer. He attended public schools in Missouri, moving to Independence in 1920. Here he probably gained some more “show-me” experience from a hard-head resident that later became president.
In 1929, he matriculated at the University of Missouri. Here he considered an athletic career by going out for freshman football. However, he really had plans to become a medical doctor. The next year, he planned to go to medical school at the University of Kansas; but with the fall of the stock market and depression starting, his plans were changed. He needed a job, and the job offer he had was at Kansas State College. He decided to go with the job and get a degree in veterinary medicine. He figured there wasn’t that much difference between the two professions. Anyway, medicine’s loss was agriculture’s gain.
He obtained his D.V.M. degree in 1936 and stayed on at Kansas State College through 1940 as an instructor in bacteriology in the School of Veterinary Medicine.
As an instructor at Kansas State, Marvin met Dorothy Washington, a Manhattan farm girl; and they were married in 1937. She has obediently looked after him ever since. Marvin and Dorothy have three children: John living at St. Louis, Missouri; Louise (Mrs. Lee Torkelson) at Manhattan, Kansas; and Herb here in Lincoln.
In 1940, with World War II beginning in Europe, Dr. Twiehaus was the first veterinarian from Kansas to be called into the Army for active duty. The period of duty was to have been one year. The year was nearly finished when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and we became involved in World War II. Dr. Twiehaus spent that first year as a veterinary officer attached to the cavalry, the next two years as a bacteriologist, and the last two years in the Army food inspection and procurement program. He served in both the U.S.A. and on the islands of the Pacific Theater and was given an honorable discharge in 1946. However, he remained in the Army reserves and just recently retired as a Colonel.
In 1946, when Dr. Twiehaus was discharged from the Army, he decided to enter private veterinary practice. I suppose others had informed him that “there was where the fortunes were to be made.” So he and Mrs. Twiehaus moved to St. Charles, Missouri, just north of St. Louis; and he set up a private practice.
After three years, he decided to go back to school and obtain an advanced degree. In 1949, he returned to Kansas State University in the Department of Pathology and was awarded the Master of Science in pathology in 1950.
He continued on in the Pathology Department and passed the examinations in 1953 to become a Diplomate in the American College of Veterinary Pathology. In 1966, he became a Diplomate in the American College of Veterinary Microbiologists. Dr. Twiehaus is one of the few to be recognized as a Diplomate in two professional colleges, namely pathology and microbiology. In 1953, he was also elevated to head of the Pathology Department at Kansas State University. During this time at KSU, he was active in both research and teaching.
In 1963, Dr. George A. Young, then chairman of the Nebraska Veterinary Science Department, wrote Dr. Twiehaus requesting information on recent pathology graduates to fill a vacant position at Nebraska. Dr. Twiehaus replied wanting to know if he could apply; and of course, Dr. Young was pleased. Consequently, Dr. Twiehaus came to Nebraska and July of 1963 and, of course, remained here until his retirement in 1977.
His main reason for moving from Kansas State was to get away from being head of the department and the resulting paperwork. He was interested in doing research and teaching some pathology at the graduate level. However, little did he know that in a year’s time, with the untimely death of Dr. Young, that he would again be elevated to a chairmanship and all the administrative duties of that office.
Teaching and veterinary education have always ranked high on his list of objectives. Here at Nebraska, although there was less time for teaching undergraduate students, he was always active as an undergraduate advisor and always had 40-50 pre-veterinary advisees. The fact that Nebraska had so many good students interested in veterinary medicine and the limited number accepted to the veterinary colleges always disturbed him. To improve this situation, he worked with the administration, the legislature, and the neighboring veterinary colleges two increase the number of students accepted. During this period, the University of Missouri and the University of Minnesota Veterinary Colleges began accepting Nebraska students, substantially increasing the number of acceptances. He has also been a strong supporter up our regional veterinary college concept and did much of the early work in support of a regional veterinary school.
Dr. Twiehaus continued to work with graduate students, and a number of these students bearing his imprint earned advanced degrees and are now holding important positions in veterinary medicine. He also served for a number of years on the Purina Fellowship Awards Committee for selection of graduate students to receive Purina scholarships.
If Dr. Twiehaus has one problem, it would be his inability to say “no” when asked to serve on a committee, to attend a livestock producers’ meeting, or serve as a speaker on the program. For about one year after Dr. Howe retired as extension veterinarian, Dr. Twiehaus carried most of the extension load for the department. However, this paid off as Dr. Twiehaus always spoke of the needs for the College of Agriculture and especially the needs of the Department of Veterinary Science. Through these efforts, in 1968, the Nebraska livestock industry began to pressure the legislature to improve the research and diagnostic facilities for the Department of Veterinary Science. Under Dr. Twiehaus’ leadership, the first draft of requirements for a new veterinary science facility was finished in January,1971, in the final draft in August of 1973. The legislature then voted a total of 8 million dollars; in the veterinary research and diagnostic complex of four buildings was completed in the summer of 1977.
This new research, teaching, and diagnostic facilities is one of the finest in the U.S.A. or the world, for that matter. The livestock industry and the State of Nebraska can take pride in their achievement, and I know they will credit Dr. Twiehaus for his efforts on their behalf.
Also, under Dr. Twiehaus’ tenure and direction, new diagnostic laboratories have been established at the experiment stations at North Platte and Scottsbluff and the Veterinary Science swine and cattle facilities at Mead have been developed.
Dr. Twiehaus has always been active in research. During his career, he has authored or coauthored over 70 publications in scientific journals, written several chapters for books on veterinary medicine, and authored numerous articles for farm publications. While at Kansas State, he was the first to isolate hey highly virulent, cancer-producing virus from turkeys; and he also was the first to demonstrate the hemorrhagic factor in chemically extracted soybean meal. The soybean meal or cake from this chemical extraction process had resulted in the death of many cattle. He also was the first to demonstrate that field outbreaks of anaplasmosis could be controlled by feeding the antibiotic aureomycin. Other research problems on which he worked included anthrax, leptospirosis, tuberculosis, and crude oil poisoning.
Here at Nebraska, he directed research on the use and the carrier state of hog cholera vaccines and the development of the fluorescent anti-body-frozen tissue test for hog cholera diagnoses. This rapid test helped make eradication of hog cholera possible. He also directed the research by Dr. Charles Mebus that led to the discovery of the cause of neonatal calf scours. This research resulted in the rota and corona viral vaccines for the prevention of neonatal calf diarrhea. A patent was issued for this vaccine; and to date, the Regents have received in excess of $250,000 in royalties. The income from this patent is to be used for special projects in animal health research.
Dr. Twiehaus has always been a strong supporter of the specific-pathogen-free or SPF program for swine production. He has served on the Health Committee for the Nebraska program, on the National SPF Advisory Committee, and on the Board for the National Swine Repopulation Association. He has been instrumental in developing techniques for the diagnosis of chronic diseases eliminated by the SPF program for swine production.
Dr. Twiehaus was one of the early supporters of the program to eradicate the disease hog cholera from the United States. His concern was that if African swine fever was ever introduced into the United States, it would mean the destruction of the swine industry. The two diseases, hog cholera and African swine fever, appear clinically alike it would make differential diagnosis difficult. There were many who doubted that this costly disease could be eradicated, but Dr. Twiehaus firmly stood his ground; and as we all now know, the eradication of hog cholera was successful. Elimination of hog cholera has removed a costly disease phase of swine production, open new markets to the U.S. swine producer, and has made the diagnosis of other diseases simpler. During the eradication program, Dr. Twiehaus served on both the Nebraska and the American Veterinary Medical Association cholera eradication committees and also on the Secretary of Agriculture’s National Hog Cholera Committee. Just this summer he was given two national awards in recognition of this service.
Dr. Twiehaus has always felt that research on the diseases and problems of livestock production never received proper funding from the federal government. He actively sought support and testified before the agricultural committees of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Animal Health Bill which he supported was passed by Congress but was vetoed by President Ford. A later version of the bill was passed.
In 1966, the College of Agriculture was assigned the leading role in helping to improve agricultural education and research in Columbia, South America. Dr. Twiehaus was chosen to be the advisor on the veterinary phase. During this period, He made several trips to Colombia to study the situation, selected the veterinary personnel to serve on the Colombian faculty and sponsored several Colombian graduate students for advanced study at our Department of Veterinary Science.
In 1976, he was selected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as one of the five outstanding research veterinarians to travel to Russia and evaluate their research and livestock production. This 30-day trip was both interesting and informative, And I know many of you have seen his slides and enjoyed his presentation on the Russian excursion.
Dr. Twiehaus has also spent considerable time serving on various other committees. During his tenure at Nebraska, he has served on the advisory boards for U.S. Animal-Plant Health Service, for Nebraska Stockgrowers, for Nebraska Swine Council, for Cattle Feeders Association, for SPF program, the research committees of the American Veterinary Medical Association, the U.S. Animal Health Association, and the Animal Health Committee for the National Academy of Science.
He has been consultant an animal diseases and control to APHIS of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and on public health and biologic control for the U.S. Animal Health Association. His knowledge is frequently sought as an expert witness by the industry.
Dr. Twiehaus is also a member of many professional and honorary associations and has served as an officer or committee member for a number of these. His membership includes: the Nebraska and Kansas Veterinary Medical Associations, American Veterinary Medical Association, United States Animal Health Association, Conference of Research Workers in Animal Disease, National Swine Repopulation Association, Phi Kappa Phi, Sigma Xi, Gamma Sigma Delta, the American College for Veterinary Pathologists, and the American College for Veterinary Microbiologists. He is also a member of the Presbyterian Church, the Northeast Rotary Club, and the American Legion.
As one would expect, a person having been this active in animal health and Disease Control would expect to receive a number of honors and awards. Dr. Twiehaus is no exception to this rule. The list of awards is most impressive and includes:
1967—Ralston Purina Award for Distinguished Service
1970—Service Award from Nebraska SPF Swine Accrediting Association
1973—The Borden Award for Service to the Cattle Industry
1974—Distinguished Service Award from Kansas State University for Distinguished Service to Veterinary Medicine
1975—Gamma Sigma Delta Award of Merit from the Nebraska Chapter
1975—Agricultural Achievement Award by the Nebraska Livestock Feeders Association
1975—Service Award from the National SPF Accrediting Agency
1976—Honorary Member National Farmhouse Fraternity for Distinguished Service to Agriculture. This award meant a great deal to Dr. Twiehaus as it was recognition of accomplishments by the young—the new generation. The award was presented at the Farmhouse National Conclave at North Carolina State University at Raleigh.
1978—U.S.D.A. Service Award for efforts for the eradication of hog cholera
1978—Recognition of Service Award from Animal Research Service, U.S.D.A.
This list is indeed impressive; but tonight, Dr. Twiehaus, you are to receive your most distinguished award--perhaps the award most difficult to obtain. As you know, an expert is never recognized as such at home, but is first recognized by those unknown recipients of the results of his work. Therefore, it is an honor when your colleagues, your friends, and your neighbors recognize your achievements.
Your name and the record of your achievements will now be added to the list of eminent Nebraskans that have helped make Nebraska agriculture the great industry that it is. It is an honor you have earned and certainly deserve.
