Bruce Addison of Fayette was named to the Missouri Veterinary Medical Foundation’s Honor Roll during a ceremony Saturday in Jefferson City. 

Addison is the founder and President of Addison Biological Laboratory in Fayette. He is only the second non-veterinarian to earn the distinction. 

“I never saw this coming because this is supposed to be for vets,” Addison said.

As a member of the MVFM board, other members held “clandestine” meetings to bestow the honor.

Dr. Loyal Henderson, DVM, a veterinarian in Vienna, Mo, nominated him for the honor.

“When I was given the chance to present this to Bruce, I consider that a great honor,” said Dr. Henderson.

“I asked one producer who Bruce was very instrumental in getting ahead of some pig problems. And he said he was amazed that here was the president of the lab coming out to his place to try to get to the bottom of the problem.”

A native of Kirkwood, Mo., Addison earned a degree in biology with a focus on microbiology from Central Methodist and later studied and taught at the Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine. He was drafted and served with the preventative medicine unit in Thailand during the Vietnam War. He later settled in Fayette with his wife, Jan, and started Addison Biological Laboratory here.

“After doing the postmortems on GIs and other people in the service, I thought, ‘I think maybe I want to work with animals.’ And it’s been more than a privilege. It’s been a great career.”

Addison quipped that as a veterinary microbiologist, he is a microb rancher.

“He personally developed the safest and most efficacious vaccine for pink eye,” Dr. Henderson said.