Dr. Charles W. Raker, C'41, V'42

Dr. Charles Raker knows all about making history. He was one of three faculty members the year the School of Veterinary Medicine’s New Bolton Center opened in 1952. In the years since then, the renowned equine surgeon, pictured at right with a Penn Veterinary student, says he has witnessed firsthand New Bolton’s “growth from farm to world-class institution.”

During his career, he pioneered techniques that brought equine surgery to a new level and helped establish New Bolton as a premier treatment center for horses and other large animals. Twenty two years after he retired, his legend lives on through the prestigious Charles W. Raker Professorship in Equine Surgery, held by Dean W. Richardson, the surgeon who led the team that treated the racehorse, Barbaro.

Dr. Raker maintains a personal presence, too, as a frequent mentor to students, and as chair of the highly successful Opportunity Scholarship Program, which has raised more than $1 million for needy students since it began in 1998. Through his work with the program, Dr. Raker has helped prepare interns and residents for careers in equine surgery, including one of the first woman interns in the field. Of his devotion to the School where he has spent his entire career, the 87-year-old Dr. Raker says he is “returning some of the honor and opportunity that the School and profession have given me over the years.”

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