Eugene T. Lyons, PhD, a longtime University of Kentucky (UK) Department of Veterinary Science faculty member, died Dec. 7. He was 86.

Lyons joined the department’s faculty in 1963 and still had an active parasitology research agenda until his death. Throughout his 56-year career, his work on equine helminth infections attracted interest from around the world. He was the first to demonstrate helminth parasite transmission from mother seals to their offspring through their milk; this observation was later extended to a number of equine helminth infections and altered current thinking on the epidemiology of different equine endoparasitic diseases.

Lyons specifically described the lactogenic life cycle of the equine threadworm, Strongyloides westeri. Other contributions include describing life cycles of other important parasites, along with testing and evaluating every equine dewormer that reached the market.

His passion for research extended beyond his equine parasitology work as a professor at the UK Gluck Equine Research Center and in service to local horse farms. He frequently spent his vacations studying parasitology issues in fur seals and sea lions in places such as Alaska, California, and Australia