In Memory of Grant Frazer
It is a with a heavy heart and much sadness that The University of Queensland Veterinary School and Clinics staff and students recognise the tragic loss of Professor Grant Frazer, our trusted colleague and the Director of the Veterinary Clinical and Diagnostic Service.
Professor Grant Frazer graduated from The University of Queensland in 1980. He went on to have an accomplished veterinary career, and one which made a positive impact on each staff and student fortunate enough to work with him.
Grant completed his Masters’ graduate program as well as his Residency in Theriogenology at The Ohio State University, and was board-certified by the American College of Theriogenology. Grant also obtained his MBA through the Fisher College of Business. Initially an Associate Professor in Theriogenology, Grant then served as the Director of The Ohio State Veterinary Teaching Hospital from December 2006 through August 2009. Grant then returned home to Queensland in September 2009, to commence his new role at the University Of Queensland School of Veterinary Science as Director of Veterinary Clinical and Diagnostic Services.
Grant was a natural leader and a visionary, who both imagined and then enacted great and positive changes for The University of Queensland School of Veterinary Science. His dedication and passion to making our University Veterinary School a world-class facility brought about major changes to our School. One of his major accomplishments was his involvement in the development, building, and movement of the majority of the Veterinary Clinic and Diagnostic Lab to a beautiful and well-equipped facility at Gatton. Grant's passion also extended to the Small Animal Hospital on the St Lucia campus, which he helped turn into a successful and well-respected Specialty Medicine and Surgery hospital which functions both to teach high-level medicine and surgery to our Veterinary students, and to bring that high level of veterinary care to the pets and pet owners of Queensland.
Grant Frazer was a charismatic man who possessed that rare ability to inspire and lead his work colleagues. Many of us left our previous jobs, some overseas, simply because he inspired us to join him in his quest to bring the UQ Veterinary Hospitals to the forefront of veterinary education. Grant's legacy lives on in the high standards he set. He set high standards for himself: striving first to build a state-of-the-art veterinary hospital, and then to assemble the best team available to work there with him. And he set high standards for us: to live up to his model of the energetic, reliable, efficient, compassionate veterinary leader and, in doing so, to better ourselves as both veterinarians and people.
There was no questioning Grant's vision and dedication that has propelled our Veterinary School during his time with us. However, we who worked with Grant will really remember and miss our day-to-day interactions with such a gentle, caring, and vibrant friend. He was a boss who took the time to look you in the eye and ask how everything was going. He was a leader who listened, took notes, tried to see a common ground and a solution in every problem. He was a 'higher-up' who always made his agenda clear ... to take care of the students, the patients, the clients, the veterinarians and nurses and administrative staff who worked each day to make the University of Queensland School Veterinary Clinics great.
Grant brought an energy, a vitality, and a positive outlook with him each time he entered the Hospital. The halls are so much quieter today without him here.
We will miss Grant more than we can say - more than we can even realize right now. His loss will be felt in so many ways throughout the Veterinary School in the coming months and years. It really isn't possible to fill his shoes - to match his enthusiasm, professionalism, and compassion - to see his vision for the Veterinary School with the exactness and precision that he saw it. But everywhere we look in the UQ Veterinary Hospitals, and in everything we do, there is a piece of Grant with us. We will miss him, but we will never forget him. And we will all try to be Grant in our own ways - through patience in teaching our students, though a compassionate ear when talking with a client, through the utmost care and knowledge as we treat our patients, and through remembering to be good to each other, and to ourselves.
In this way, Grant Frazer will leave his legacy with each one of us in the Veterinary School, and in this way we will remember him, honour him, and bring his legacy of compassion, dedication, vision, and energy to you. He was truly a good man, who led a good life.
