Timothy Ray Boosinger

Timothy Ray Boosinger, 74, of Auburn, AL, passed away on January 27, 2025, after a valiant fight against pancreatic cancer and its complications. He was born on November 16, 1950 in Lincoln, NE, the son of Elby Alex Boosinger and Merileen Walker Boosinger. He grew up in Forest Grove, OR. At the age of 13 his family moved to Indianapolis where he attended T. C. Howe High School and met the love of his life, Marcia, in junior year chemistry class, where his well-developed sense of humor was what she was first attracted to. They married after their freshman years at two different colleges, and after a sophomore year at Indiana University, they transferred to Purdue University where Tim attended veterinary school, graduating with his DVM degree in 1976. He enlisted in the United States Air Force as a Captain in the Veterinary Corps. He served on active duty at March Air Force Base in Riverside, California where their daughter Andrea was born and at Whiteman Air Force Base in Knob Noster, Missouri where their daughter Amy was born. Tim served for a total of 20 years, three years on active duty and 17 years in the reserves and retired in 1996 at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. In 1979 he returned to Purdue and received his PhD in veterinary pathology in 1983 whereupon he joined the Auburn faculty as an assistant professor of pathobiology in the College of Veterinary Medicine. He became a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists in 1987 and was internationally recognized as an expert in bone and joint pathology and in foodborne bacteria causing illness of humans. After a decade of service to the university’s teaching and research mission, Tim was promoted to full professor and named Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in 1993 and served as Dean of the College from 1995 to 2011. He was recognized as Purdue University’s Distinguished Alumnus in 2004. He continued his service to Auburn University as Provost and Chief Academic Officer from 2011 until his retirement in 2018. He liked to say that he flunked retirement several times as demonstrated by his various appointments at Clemson University from 2018-2025, serving as Interim Dean of two colleges and in several capacities as the Special Assistant to the Provost, most recently as co-chair of the Clemson College of Veterinary Medicine Steering Committee.

In addition to all his professional success, Tim had many talents and interests. He and Marcia were inveterate travelers, having been to all 7 continents with Antarctica his favorite. He loved river cruises and liked nothing better than to sit up top on the ship with a glass of good red wine and watch the world go by. His bucket list of places yet to visit was long and varied. Tim loved anything to do with being on the ocean or the lake. He was an excellent sailor on the Intercoastal and the ocean. Over time he owned several sailboats at Lake Martin, the last of which he kept at the family lake cabin, his happy place and the site of dozens of joyful times with family and friends. His most recent boat was the family pontoon in which he spent many happy hours zooming in circles and figure eights dragging a tube full of grandchildren all over at high speed in successful attempts to flip them off into the water.

Tim was a handyman par excellence with the ability to build or fix almost anything around the house and loved working with wood or tinkering with some broken item to see if it couldn’t be fixed. He built a major addition to a deck single-handedly and reroofed an entire house alone in his younger days. Tim was always puttering around on some small task or other with the many tools in his garage. 

Even more than these talents and expertise, Tim was an incredibly compassionate and loving soul who never met a stranger and always thought the best of anyone he interacted with. He was a not only a fabulously supportive father to his two beautiful daughters, but was also their mentor from whom they still sought advice and opinion on everything from their careers to parenting, even as adults. His grandchildren were the four bright lights of his life and he delighted in sharing his love of coffee shops by taking them to Starbucks for caffeine infusions as firm believer in a grandfather’s right to spoil his grands rotten as long as they were willing to tolerate his penchant for corny dad jokes.  His love of family was immense, and he adored family reunions, weddings, and Christmases together, traveling to Indiana for many years to celebrate with family and friends. Tim’s definition of family was very broad and enveloping. He thought of every group he worked with as a family and did his best to show his appreciation for all their hard work. “Kind”, “good” and “lovely” were the adjectives used often to describe him because he had a genuine interest in everyone he met and an innate ability to put people at ease. He always knew the right thing to say or not to say in any situation and his incredibly good judgment and decision making made him the stellar leader everyone knew him to be. 

Tim is survived by his wife of 54 years, Marcia; two daughters, Andrea Blau (David) and Amy Rogers (Scott); and beloved grandchildren, Aaron and Anna Blau and Colin and Caroline Rogers, as well as sisters Linda Inks of Indianapolis, IN, Vickie Edwards of Portland, OR, brother John Boosinger of Raleigh, NC and numerous dear sisters and brothers- in- law, cousins, nieces and nephews. A memorial service is planned for 3:00 pm Friday, February 7, 2025 at the First Presbyterian Church of Auburn, 143 East Thach Ave, Auburn, AL.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in his honor to the Presbyterian Community Ministry, 143 E. Thach Avenue, Auburn AL 36830, or to a memorial fund to honor Dr. Boosinger’s contributions to the College of Veterinary Medicine (giving@vetmed.auburn.edu or (334) 844-1446).