Dr. Donald Elmer Pietz (1926-2008)
PIETZ, RUE, BLOEMKE, COLES
Posted By: Ames Tribune
Date: 2/26/2008 at 17:53:20
THE AMES TRIBUNE, Ames, Story County, Iowa, Tuesday, February 26, 2008.
March 30, 1926-Feb. 23, 2008
Dr. Donald Elmer Pietz, 81, died Saturday, Feb. 23, of cardiac arrest at his home in Ames. A celebration of life will be at 10:30 am. Thursday, Feb. 28, at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Ames. The body was cremated and burial of the remains will be in Zion Lutheran Cemetery in Springfield, Minn.
Visitation will be from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 27, at Stevens Memorial Chapel in Ames.
Donald Elmer Pietz was born March 30, 1926, in Jackson County, Minn., to Elmer and Myrtle (Rue) Pietz. He graduated from Comfrey High School in Comfrey, Minn., in 1944, and served in the U.S. Army from 1945-46. He attended Gustavus Aldophus College in St. Peter, Minn., from 1947-48, and obtained a doctorate degree in 1953 from the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine. He received a master's degree in public health from the University of Minnesota in 1961.
He married Lois Bloemke July 11, 1954, in Springfield, Minn. At that time, he was employed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture supervising the testing of cattle for brucellosis and tuberculosis in several Minnesota counties. In 1958, the USDA transferred him to the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine to do graduate studies and investigate cattle herds in which brucellosis was not being eliminated by regular testing. In 1961, he was transferred to the National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames.
At the National Veterinary Services Lab, he worked on the development and production of antigens and vaccines for the National Brucellosis Eradication Program. He developed buffered brucella antigen that is used in the card test for the detection of brucellosis in cattle and swine and the heat inactivation milk ring test for detection in dairy herds. This procedure greatly reduced false positive readings obtained by the standard milk ring test. In 1975, he co-authored the second edition of "Laboratory Techniques in Brucellosis" for the World Health Organization at Geneva, Switzerland.
He retired in 1984. During his retirement, he was active in the Ames Slow Pitch Softball Association in building the softball facilities and in operating the Slow Pitch Softball Program.
He is survived by his wife, Lois; four children, Richard (Cheryl) Pietz, of Huxley, and their children, Nicholas and Nathan, Michael (Jody) Pietz, of Ames, and their children, Kacey and Brody, Meri (Ron) Coles, of Clive, and Dr. Patricia Pietz, of Madison, Wis.; four brothers, Kenneth, Kermit, Robert and James; and one sister, Shirley.
He was preceded in death by both parents and a sister, Donna.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to St. Paul Lutheran Church or the Ames Slowpitch Softball Association.
Tributes, written or oral, may be left at www.mem.com.
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