Mortimer Kramer, 91, animal hospital founder, dies

Dr. Mortimer Kramer, founder of Huntington Animal Hospital, died Monday of natural causes at Hospice House in East Northport. He was 91.

"He had a wonderful sense of humor and was passionate about caring for the animals he treated," said his son Jeff Kramer, 58, of Huntington. He took over his dad's business in 1987.

Mortimer Kramer, who founded the hospital in 1952, was raised in the Bronx and graduated from the City College of New York in 1941. He received his veterinarian degree from the former Middlesex University in Waltham, Mass., in 1945.

He worked from 1946 to 1948 for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration on a "victory ship" to restock Europe with horses after World War II.

From then until he opened his own practice in Huntington Station, he worked as a veterinarian at several sites in New York City, Jeff Kramer said.

"Early in his career, he worked with large and small animals," his son said. "In 1964, while visiting Liberia with his brother, who was a purchasing agent there, he treated some cattle. For that, President [William] Tubman awarded him the Order of the Star of Africa."

In 1958, Kramer and his family moved to Woodbury, where they lived for 35 years. He and his wife later bought homes in Northport and Boca Raton, Fla.

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"The main thing in his life for the past few years has been having his family around him as much as possible -- and golf," his son said.

He is also survived by his wife of 60 years, Joyce; another son, Jonathan, of Yorba Linda, Calif., and four grandchildren.

The funeral service will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at Guttermans in Woodbury. Burial will follow at the Huntington Jewish Cemetery in Huntington Station.