Renowned Equestrian Vet Raymond Morandi Dies At 86

ORLAND PARK, IL -- Raymond J. Morandi, DVM, had a million horse stories of interrupted Christmas dinners and calls at all hours of the day and night at farms and race tracks throughout the Chicago region. A pioneering equine veterinarian and cornerstone of Orland Park, Dr. Morandi died May 19 after a brief struggle with lymphoma. He was 86.

Born June 24, 1931 to Peter and Bernice Morandi in Chicago’s Roseland neighborhood, Dr. Morandi’s worked on his father’s ice delivery truck. His love and fascination for horses began when he was a kid, where his father kept a couple of buggy racing horses on their property in Roseland.

Dr. Morandi graduated from Fenger High School and joined the Army where he served in the Korean War. After the war, he attended Bradley University in Peoria where he earned a bachelor’s degree. He went on to Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, where after 12 years of study, he graduated with a degree in veterinary medicine.

“He always said he went to school longer than a people’s physician,” his son, Raymond Morandi II, said.

Dr. Morandi moved back to the Chicago area where he settled on a 50-acre estate at 15715 Wolf Road opening the Orland Park Equine Hospital in 1966. He was a familiar figure at Chicago’s race tracks, treating standardbred horses at Washington Park, Maywood, Sportsmen and Balmoral by day day, and performing surgeries throughout the night.

“He loved his work,” his son said. “He had such a work ethic and was good at what he did with a humbling nature. He was not just saving lives but pioneered techniques that kept them racing.”

At his Orland Park practice, Dr. Morandi became known as a leg man in horse circles. He pioneered treatments for treating leg and hock injuries in standardbred racers as well as privately owned riding and farm horses. His equine practice was equipped with 25 stalls and two operating chambers for stand-up and “dropped” surgeries for horses under general anesthesia.

“The facility was tailor made for horse operations with hydraulic tables and cranes to lift horses up onto to the table,” Raymond II said. “People shipped in horses from all over the country. He was one of the best leg surgeons around. He did procedures on horses that no one knew or thought of.”

The equine hospital was also a popular field trip destination for school children from Orland Park and the south suburbs.

“There were yellow school buses up and down the property,” his son joked.

One day in the early 1970s, a pretty woman named Janice Blough brought her horse to the clinic in for consultation with Dr. Morandi. He hired her on the spot.

“He admitted to hiring her because he wanted to date her,” Raymond II said.

The couple married on Nov. 23, 1975 and raised three children on the farm.

“He was a family man,” his son said. “We were all so close. My sisters and I live within walking distance of each and my parents because that’s the way my dad wanted it and how we wanted it. We never wanted to stray too far from them.”

In addition to being a gifted veterinarian, Dr. Morandi showed a talent for real estate. He invested in numerous commercial and residential properties. Keeping a 20-acre estate for himself, he gradually sold a large portion of his acreage in the 1990s, where residential developments Equestrian Place, Summer Glen and Ashburn Sound were built.

With him from the beginning was his loyal secretary of 45 years, Sue Drevetzki. She said Dr. Morandi continued working up until a few weeks before his death.

“He loved his work. That was his life,” Drevetzki said. “He never intended to retire and said I shouldn’t get any ideas either.”

Dr. Morandi belonged to the Illinois State Veterinary Medical Association, the American Veterinary Medical Association, the Veterinary Medical Aromatherapy Association and the Horsemen’s Council of Illinois. Some of Dr. Morandi’s more famous patients included Rambling Willie, nicknamed “the horse that God loved, a champion harness standardbred with 128 victories earning over $2 million during his 13-year racing career, and the Budweiser Clydesdales.

“I was there so much watching surgeries,” his son said. “Being there as a kid and hearing the chatter of clients as they waited to talk to him. He was so good at what he did, but he never bragged about what he did or presented himself as a big shot.”

Dr. Morandi leaves his wife of 43 years, Janice, and three children, Kristin (David) Pomonis, Carla (Todd) Walters and Raymond II (Megan) Morandi. He is also the cherished grampy of Madisyn, Paige and Nicholas Pomonis; Blake, Kylie and Kayla Walters; and Lucca and Taylan Morandi. Dr. Morandi is also survived by two siblings, Robert (Syble) Morandi, Carol (Donald) Parker, and mother-in-law, Mary (the late Harold) Blough. He was preceded in death by his parents and siblings, the late Elaine (late Leo) Ostrowski and the late LaVerne (late William) Prystasz.

Visitation for Dr. Morandi will take place from 3 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, May 23, at Colonial Chapel, 15525 S. 73rd Ave. (155th/Wheeler Dr. & Harlem) Orland Park. His body will lie in state beginning at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, May 24, until the service at 10:30 a.m. at Chicago First Church of the Nazarene, 12725 Bell Road, Lemont.

Following the service, the funeral procession will proceed to Orland Park Equine Hospital at 15715 Wolf Road. There, Dr. Morandi’s casket will be transferred to a horse-drawn carriage, where he will be carried to Orland Park’s Good Shepherd Catholic Cemetery at 16201 S. 104th Ave.

Residents and well wishers are invited to watch the horsedrawn procession east down 159th Street from the equine hospital to 104th Avenue, where it will turn into the cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Dr. Morandi’s name to Chicago First Church of the Nazarene.

Photos provided by Morandi family | Family portrait left to right: Carla Walters, wife Janice, Krisin Pomonis (bride) and son Raymond Morandi.