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UPPER FREEHOLD: Community mourns equine vet ‘Doc’ Dey

By Joanne Degnan, Staff Writer
   UPPER FREEHOLD — The state’s horse industry and the Upper Freehold community are mourning the death of prominent equine veterinarian and farmer Dr. Stephen Perrine Dey II, who died suddenly last week at the age of 74.
   Dr. Dey, of Heritage Hill Farm, was a tireless advocate for agriculture and the equine industry, who also gave generously of his time to his community and church. A Standardbred breeder and practicing veterinarian for nearly 50 years, he had just delivered a foal at his farm Feb. 28 when he felt ill, was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Hamilton, and died a short time later.
   ”He was a horseman, a veterinarian, a farmer and a gentleman that will be missed greatly and dearly by our community,” Mayor LoriSue H. Mount said on March 3 before the Township Committee held a moment of silence in his honor.
   Hundreds of mourners came to the Peppler Funeral Home in Allentown to pay their respects on Friday and scores more lined South Main and High streets on Saturday in tribute as his casket was taken to the nearby Allentown Presbyterian Church for his funeral. Fittingly, the casket was borne on a farm wagon festooned with patriotic bunting and pulled by Dr. Dey’s bright green John Deere tractor.
   ”He would have loved it because there was no place he’d rather be than on his tractor,” said his longtime friend and colleague Karyn Malinowski, director of Rutgers Equine Science Center. “He was a character, and a very special man.”
   Dr. Dey was a founding member and current president of the Horse Park of New Jersey, a world-class equine exhibition facility on Route 524 that opened in 1988. He also was a member of the advisory board of the Rutgers Equine Science Center, president of the board of managers of Rutgers NJ Agricultural Experiment Station, and longtime member and past chairman of NJ Equine Advisory Board.
   Dr. Malinowski said Dr. Dey’s death was a “truly sad day for the horse community in New Jersey and the nation.”
   ”There is no one person whom I have known who has worked more selflessly and tirelessly on behalf of horses, the horse industry and agriculture in the Garden State than Stephen P. Dey,” Dr. Malinowski said.
   ”I have been fortunate to call him a dear colleague and friend for over 30 years and will truly miss his insight, wisdom and wonderful sense of humor.”
   Locally, Dr. Dey was the chairman of the Upper Freehold Board of Health and a member of the township’s Economic Development Committee. He also was a lifetime member and elder in the Allentown Presbyterian Church, where he sang in the church choir on Sundays.
   Township Committee member Stanley Moslowski Jr. said he had known “Doc Dey” for 40 years and enjoyed his wit and straightforwardness.
   ”You always knew where you stood at the end of the conversation,” Mr. Moslowski said, evoking a chuckle from the rest of the Township Committee.
   Township Committeeman Stephen Alexander said he would remember Dr. Dey for his generosity.
   ”I loved Dr. Dey … because of the type of man he was,” Mr. Alexander said. “He called me up one time and said, ‘I have a 7-day-old foal, would you like to bring your daughter over to come see it?’
   ”This went on for five or six years, where if he had a new foal he would call me up or I would call him,” Mr. Alexander said. “It was beautiful to see something like that … he was always welcoming and quite the gentleman. He’s going to be missed by many in this town not only as a leader, but as a friend.”
   Dianne Kelly, the Upper Freehold CFO, said she met Dr. Dey at a square dance at the Crosswicks Community Center about 20 years ago when she was new to the township, and recalled how welcome he made her feel.
   ”We’re all out on the dance floor, and I didn’t know how to square dance, and I found myself face to face with a man who was the most wonderful dancer, and I later found out it was Dr. Dey,” Ms. Kelly said. “He was just a lot of fun.”
   Township Attorney Granville M. Magee, who said he had known the veterinarian since 1995, reminisced about Dr. Dey’s “fashion sense,” specifically his penchant for wearing layers of mixed-matched shirts.
   ”He wore three or four shirts at the same time, all of them different styles, but he put it together and somehow they all worked on Doc,” Mr. Magee said.
   Dr. Dey was a two-time winner of the NJ Horse Person of the Year award, in 1990 and 2004, and won the Spirit of the Horse Award in 2007. He made time to serve in various county and state positions as well, including the State Agricultural Development Committee and the NJ Water Supply Advisory Council. Dr. Dey also had been the president of the State Board of Agriculture in 2003-2004.
   The Dey family business, Heritage Hill Farm, is one of the founding farms of the New Jersey Sire Stakes program and was named Breeder of the Year in 2009. Although technically “retired,” Dr. Dey still did the breeding and foaling on the 500-acre farm and in the spring enjoyed being out in the fields on his tractor.
   ”Even in retirement, he worked harder than probably 85 percent of people half of his age,” Dr. Malinowski said.
   A lifelong resident of Upper Freehold, Dr. Dey graduated from Allentown High School in 1954 and the New York State College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University in 1960.
   Dr. Dey is survived by his wife, Elizabeth; two sons who also are veterinarians, Dr. Stephen P. Dey III and his wife, Margaret, and Dr. Gregory S. Dey and his wife, Beverly; a daughter, Wendy D. Martin and her husband, Brian; six grandchildren, Stephen P. Dey IV, Rachel Dey, Mitchel Dey, Troy Dey, and Garrett and Bridget Martin; his twin sister Mary D. Hayes, as well as many nieces and nephews.
   Memorial contributions may be made in Dr. Dey’s name to the Horse Park of New Jersey, P.O. Box 419, Cream Ridge, NJ 08514.