From country boy to Army colonel, Paul Mellick ’56 turned an early interest in animal care to a lifetime pursuit. While at SHS Paul participated in Choir, Boys’ Octette and Quartet, theater and was a member of the Scarlet S yearbook staff. At age 14 Paul began mentoring under Dr. William Henson, legendary Shelby veterinarian. That led to Paul entering The Ohio State University where he earned his veterinary degree. Later he earned a master’s degree in veterinary pathology from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in comparative pathology from University of California at Davis.
After two years in general veterinary practice he entered the Army. His service included deployment in Vietnam where he established an animal disease diagnostic laboratory and produced vaccines against diseases of Vietnamese livestock. Later, in Middle East deployment, he conducted surveys of five dreaded human diseases, including Ebola fever, in Egypt, Sudan and Somalia. His findings on how these diseases could threaten U.S. forces deployed in that region are available to the Department of Defense. In his final military assignment as a colonel he served as deputy commander of the Letterman Army Institute of Research in San Francisco.
Following military retirement Paul spent 20 years managing research laboratories, first as manager of the Toxicology Department, Battelle Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington, and subsequently at the National Center for Toxicological Research, a unit of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), in Jefferson, Arkansas. Next he and former military colleagues formed Toxicological Pathology Associates (TPA), a contract firm that conducts pathology research for the FDA. TPA, with Paul serving as president and general manager, has won three 5-year FDA contracts. For six years he taught and wrote the manual for FDA investigators and auditors who evaluate the accuracy of pathology data submitted to the FDA by pharmaceutical companies.
Paul’s community involvement has been wide-ranging and continuous: coaching Little League baseball teams, leading a backcountry horsemen’s group, and volunteering with the U.S. Forest Service in clearing wilderness trails. The U.S. Secretary of the Interior appointed him to two three-year terms on the Resource Advisory Council of the Bureau of Land Management. Paul and his wife Shirley, have hosted more than two dozen foreign exchange students. They live in Richland, Washington.
Nominator: Rosalie Black Terman ’56.