Ronald James Martens

Ronald J. Martens, DVM of Somerville, TX passed away April 1, 2023. He was born Jan 11, 1940 to Elmer and Marveen Martens of Berkley, Michigan. He met and married Judy Clark of Alma, Michigan while both attended veterinary school at Michigan State University. Their son, David, was born in October of 1965.

Ron was a dedicated father and husband. He enjoyed sharing with David many outdoor adventures including: hiking, backpacking, kayaking and many boy scouting events. Ron, an Eagle Scout, served as scout leader for most of David’s scouting years. He enjoyed David and Abby’s children, Barrett and Reagan Engler. He served for many years in church-related activities, including deacon and youth fellowship programs. He led and taught veterinary medicine first-aid 4-H programs and to those interested in goat animal husbandry. Ron later became interested in equine carriage driving, especially weekend cross-country trail rides. He loved working outdoors on his ranch and was an avid, successful gardener.

During Ron’s early years he was fond of animals. He grew up listening to the farm report. In high school, he worked for a small animal veterinarian which led him to develop an interest in veterinary medicine. He played high school football but turned down a football scholarship at Michigan’s Hillsdale College to pursue a veterinary degree at Michigan State. He received a four-year tuition/housing scholarship from Evans Scholars, an organization for high-achieving student caddies.

After graduating from veterinary school (1965), Ron joined a mixed animal practice, mostly equine, in Georgetown, Kentucky. After he spent a year in the practice, he became a resident veterinarian at Castleton Farm, a large Standardbred horse farm near Lexington. From there he achieved and completed a clinical surgery and medicine internship and residency position at the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School. He completed a 3-year post-doctoral (non-PhD) degree fellowship in perinatal physiology studying piglet respiratory physiology at University of Pennsylvania's Medical School. He applied this training to foal infectious pulmonary diseases. He became a first in professorial standing as an Assistant Professor in Equine Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania. Ron subsequently joined in a partnership at the Maryland Equine Center in Sparks, Maryland. He was later recruited to TAMU’s Veterinary Medicine College to teach and perform clinical service, as well as develop a research program at its Large Animal Department where he obtained his professorship (1993) and emeritus professorship (2009). He became nationally/internationally known for his research on a bacterial infectious respiratory disease in foals. He was successful in developing an immunotherapy procedure to help/prevent or lessen its severity. In 1984, he became Director of Large Animal Medicine and Surgery Department at TAMU and stepped down in 1993 after almost a decade of leadership. He continued with his research, teaching and clinical service at TAMU until retirement in 2007.

He received many awards and honors for his outstanding accomplishments of research at TAMU. Outside of his veterinary career, his interest lay with raising foals and calves of various breeds. He specifically developed an interest in Longhorn cattle. For the last 20 years he and a neighboring veterinarian formed a partnership where they have focused on developing improvements in the breed’s horns and body type through AI and embryo transfer. He was a member of the Texas Longhorn Breeders Association and has received awards for his success at developing quality horns on his cattle.

He is survived by his wife, Judy, his son, David, and wife, Abby and two grandchildren, Barrett and Reagan, two brothers Richard and Daniel Martens, their wives, several nieces, nephews and cousins.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.memorialfuneralchapelbryan.com for the Martens family.