Theodore Tivadar Kramer

Alexandria - Theodore T. Kramer passed away on May 29, 2025 with family at his side at age 97.

Ted lived a life marked by great accomplishment after great hardship. He was born on January 4, 1928 in the ethnically Hungarian enclave of Novisad, Serbia. In his childhood he was passionate for outdoor activities such as swimming and sailing in the Danube river and he became an accomplished horseman. The chaos of World War II upended his idyllic youth; he spent the end of the war imprisoned in a Russian POW camp. After WW2 he returned to a devastated Budapest where he attended veterinary college for several years until expelled as part of the retribution that his family experienced in communist Hungary.

Facing no future in Hungary, Ted decided to escape to the West by crawling across an Iron Curtain minefield and crossing the Alps on foot. He snuck onto the Orient Express train and disembarked in Paris, where he eventually completed his veterinary education. He emigrated to Canada in 1954 to join a veterinary practice in Alberta; there he met and married the love of his life, another Hungarian immigrant, Felice Helvey. Ted and Felice spent 58 years together, his impulsive and passionate nature tempered by her calm and reason.

Ted decided to transition his career to veterinary research, and received his PhD in Veterinary Microbiology at Colorado State University. Through a career marked by educational awards and the development of several animal vaccines, he was on the faculty of veterinary schools in Nairobi, Kenya; Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; and Auburn, Alabama. He ended his career with 20 years as the head of the Department of Microbiology at the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine.

Ted considered himself a humanist and prided himself on both his scientific accomplishments as well as his mastery of seven languages and his extensive research and reading on history, art and literature, with a special fascination for Ancient Egypt.

Following retirement Ted and Felice enjoyed many years of travel. Always an athlete and outdoorsman, Ted pursued hobbies such as tennis, biking, wind surfing and skiing well into his 70s. Ted also developed a post-retirement passion for writing, with three self-published books to his credit.

Ted is preceded in death by his beloved wife Felice, his brother Rezso, his sister Isabella, and his grandson Matthew. He is survived by his three children, George (Catherine), Sophie (Paul Hunter) and Denise, and his grandchildren Eric, Marcus, Monica, Natalia and Alexander.

The family extends appreciation to Ted's compassionate caregivers from Paul Springs Retirement Community and Independent You.

Memorial donations may be directed to Amnesty International (amnestyusa.org), Just Neighbors (www.justneighbors.org), or the International Rescue Committee (www.rescue.org).