Edward C. Melby Jr. D.V.M.

Edward C. Melby, Jr., D.V.M.

Charlotte - Edward C. Melby, Jr., D.V.M., age 88, died at The Arbors in Shelburne on April 22, 2018. He was born in Burlington, Vermont, son of the late Edward C. Melby and Dorothy (Folsom) Melby of North Ferrisburgh, Vermont.

Ed spent his early years in Andover, NJ, graduated high school from Mt. Hermon School in Northfield, MA, and followed with a two-year service in the Marine Corps.

After an education at University of Pennsylvania and Cornell University, he received a Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine at which time he and his wife, Jean, moved to Cornwall, Vermont to start a veterinary practice.

In the early 1960s Ed accepted a call from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore, MD, to fulfill their need for the development of laboratory animal care and comparative medicine. After completing this mission as Professor and Director, Division of Comparative Medicine, Ed was invited and installed at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, as Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine with subsequent years as Emeritus Professor of Medicine. Following his Cornell years, Ed joined SmithKline Beecham Animal Health located in West Chester, PA as V.P. Research and Development and V.P. Science and Technology Assessment. Included in his professional career, Ed worked in critical global animal health initiatives.

Upon retirement and returning permanently to Vermont, Ed assumed ownership and management of his late aunt Marian Folsom's farm in North Ferrisburgh, VT. Previously, the family farm had been placed into the Vermont Land Trust.

Ed was pleased to serve the Town of Charlotte on their Planning Commission and with his membership in the Charlotte Congregational Church. His daily routine of hiking up Mt Philo was a special joy. He is a member of the Vermont Society of Mayflower Descendants and a sixth-generation Vermonter.

Ed enjoyed his later years at his home in Charlotte and with summer lakeside family gatherings at Cedar Beach.

His family will always remember this modest gentle soul, a dear honorable man in all the roles he played in life.

Ed is survived by his wife of 65 years, Jean File Melby, his son Scott Edward Melby, daughter-in-law Louise Root Melby and their sons Scott Jr. and George; daughter Susan Melby Robb, son-in-law Edward Jay Robb D.V.M. and their children Katharine and Rahul Ganatra, Sarah, Hannah, and Ethan; his son Jeffrey Thomas Melby and daughter-in-law Monica McCarville Melby and their children William and David; his son Richard Andrew Melby, daughter-in-law Elsa Grimison Melby and their children Evan and Dana. He is also survived by his sister Kathryn Melby Mundie and brother-in-law Tomas Rand Mundie and children Robert, Lynn, and Peter; sister Marian Melby Abbott and son Jonathan; cousin Warner Shedd and wife Edith Shedd.

Services are private. Honoring Ed, a remembrance and thanksgiving for his life will be celebrated in the summer.

Please consider an unexpected or unsolicited act of kindness to others for honoring Ed's life.