A memorial is being planned, and a scholarship fund's been established for a former UW Animal Science professor who passed away in Arizona. He was 59.
Dr. Roy Ax was an active professor of Animal Sciences and an Adjunct Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Arizona at Tucson when he passed away suddening on March 29th. University of Arizona officials have announced they'll hold a special memorial service to honor Ax on April 30th.
He was born in Rockford, IL on April 20, 1951 and graduated from Guilford High School, Rockford, IL in 1969.
In 1990, Ax moved from Wisconsin to Arizona. He was an internationally recognized expert in domestic animal reproduction. At the University of Arizona, Dr. Ax served as Chairman for the Department of Animal Sciences from 1990-2001 and was recognized for his teaching with the Bart Cardon Sustained Excellence in Teaching Award just last fall.
Ax maintained strong connections to Wisconsin, and many of the staff he once worked with at the UW-Madison. He rose through the ranks, at the UW in the Department of Dairy Science, from Assistant (1979-1983) to Associate (1983-1987) to Professor (1987-1990). He served as Director of the renowned Endocrinology-Reproductive Physiology Graduate Training Program, and was also acknowledged for his teaching with the John S. Donald Excellence in Teaching Award in 1983.
Ax was a routine visitor to World Dairy Expo each fall, and also was asked to keynote different dairy industry conferences in the midwest. Ax was also responsible for rebuilding the University of Arizona-Tucson's on-farm dairy research operation. To do that, he invited former Richland Center Brown Swiss dairymen, Steve and Nancy Faber, to transport part of their herd to the facility as a base for the future.
Dr. Ax received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Illinois and was a postdoctoral fellow with The Mayo Clinic. In his career, he trained 24 M.S., 8 PhD and 7 Postdoctoral students. He held 11 patents related to fertility of mammals and genetic merit of cattle.
Dr. Ax authored or coauthored more than 100 refereed papers, wrote more than 150 invited papers and symposia proceedings, published 18 book chapters and presented over 100 abstracts at scientific meetings. In his career, Dr. Ax generated almost $7 million to support his research program. He had received numerous research awards including the Young Scientist Award, American Dairy Science Association, 1985, National Association of Animal Breeders Research Award, 1989, Upjohn Physiology Award, 1990, Alumni Award of Merit, University of Illinois, 1991, and the University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Award for Excellence, 2001.
Dr. Ax also served on the editorial board for dozens of scientific journals and chaired national grant review panel committees and also served as Scientific Director at TMI Laboratories International, a Tucson research company specializing in reproductive technologies.
Throughout his prestigious career, Roy may be known best for riding his BMW motorcycle and AFART, an acronym for his annual trout fishing trip to the Snowy Range just west of Laramie, WY. During the past 29 years, more than 250 people had met him at the camp ground 10,000 feet high in the mountain.
He is survived by wife Mary Bellin; sons Jerrod of Tucson, Bryan (Rebecca Forgash) of Lakewood, CO and Stephen (Pamela Gautier) of Tucson; grandsons Lucas and Benjamin Ax of Lakewood, CO; mother Shirley Koonmen of Rockford, IL; brothers Wayne (Lyn) of Rockford, IL and Robert (Cindy) of Fremont, IN, sister Ginger Sisney (David) of Rockford, IL; and 7 nieces and nephews. Roy was preceded in death by his father, Roy Laverne “Vern” Ax Sr.
A memorial service is planned for Saturday, April 30, 1-3 p.m. in the Social Sciences Building, Room 100 on the U of A campus in Tucson.