A Tribute to Holly Cheever, DVM
Many times in life, we are asked to reflect on someone who has had a great influence on us. At NYSHA, we are fortunate to have had someone who not only had an immeasurable effect on each of us individually, but on our organization, her friends and family, her community, but especially as a voice for animals and their importance and value in the world.
We lost our long-time Vice President, Holly Cheever, DVM, on February 9. What an incredible person she was in every way. We will miss her presence on the Earth. She was so important and valuable — to us, to the countless animals she helped, to each of her clients, to all the people she educated at our workshops. We have all lost something and someone truly precious.
She was a colleague, friend, advisor, spouse, mother, grandmother, mentor, teacher and throughout her life, one of the fiercest animal protection advocates in history. She served on boards all over the country, as a consultant for numerous animal protection organizations, and testified before Congress and other government entities on behalf of the creatures she loved so dearly… circus animals, elephants in captivity, force-fed geese for foie gras, carriage horses, farm animals, declawed cats. If there was an animal or a species who needed protection, Holly made it her mission to do something — and the something she did changed and improved the lives of countless animals not only in this country, but around the world. Yet individually, she was a mom and a beloved and respected vet with a full-time practice, always on call to help, while running her personal sanctuary on her farm in Voorheesville.
Besides presenting at NYSHA’S workshops, evaluating and treating animals on-site at numerous cruelty cases, she was a dependable presence at organized protests against horse racing, circus animals, and other causes dear to her and to NYSHA. She was a regular advocate with us in the government offices in Albany fighting for the vital legislation she so eloquently explained and promoted.
As well as she spoke, Holly was also a wonderful writer. In our newsletter, she wrote our veterinarian column for many years, and during her storied career, she also contributed a monthly column to Good Housekeeping magazine. Since she regularly testified in cruelty cases, she joked that she could say she had the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval! We could always count on her to write cogent letters to the editor and legislative memos from both a humane and veterinary point of view.
We would need a book to recognize Dr. Holly and then the story would still not be complete. From her early days as a horse riding vet in the back roads of Kentucky to her last days still advocating for respect and humane treatment of all animals, she never stopped caring. Her accomplishments with and for NYSHA are too numerous to list, and included humane education, advocating for cat declawing as well as for better veterinary reporting of animal abuse…and the list goes on.
Holly’s son, Jesse Sommer, wrote a beautiful tribute to her. We edited it substantially and recommend reading it on our website. Her courageous journey to become a warrior to provide rights for and enhance the welfare of our fellow non-human beings is inspiring and motivates us all to follow in her path. A portion of his enlightening obituary follows:
“Mary Helen “Holly” Cheever arrived on January 22, 1950, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She was raised Unitarian amidst a close-knit community of cousins who trace their American roots back to Ezekial Cheever’s arrival to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1630s. Holly attended high school at Milton Academy in Massachusetts, where she was Captain of the girl’s field hockey team. She studied anthropology and Greek folklore mythology at Harvard University, from which she graduated summa cum laude in 1972. Eight years later, Holly graduated #1 in her class from the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine and began her practice as a large animal (dairy) veterinarian.
“As a result of Holly’s interfaith marriage, the family observed both Christian and Jewish traditions, yet its core moral ethos was and always will be vegetarianism. Her most fervent and desperate hope for humanity is that it ends the cultivation and consumption of sentient life, as Holly viewed all sentient lifeforms as being her equal and in need of human guardianship. In a story she relayed to Altamont Enterprise columnist Dennis Sullivan in 2015 about a cow she’d encountered years earlier: ‘There is a lot more going on behind those beautiful eyes than we humans have ever given [animals] credit for, and, as a mother who was able to nurse all four of my babies and did not have to suffer the agonies of losing my beloved offspring, I feel her pain.’
“It was in caring for the community’s pet population that she became ingratiated to the entire Capital District. Holly’s family was stunned by the thousands of comments on social media expressing their condolences and sharing tearful anecdotes about the magnitude of her compassion for the four-legged members of their families. Dr. Holly occupied a lofty posture in town, having been welcomed into the homes of those who would turn to her to treat, save, and rehabilitate the family dog or the squirrel found injured on the side of the road. She was most praised for the genuine empathy and commiseration she displayed in the end-of-life care she afforded families which were compelled to say goodbye to their old and suffering animal companions.
“Holly was an avid reader, brilliant writer, and a ferociously talented public speaker. She was a polyglot, musician, artist, athlete, seamstress, choir singer, horseback rider, sailor, gardener, and baker and named “Mother of the Year” by the City of Albany in 2021. As she said at the ceremony “I feel very humbled and very delighted. I care a lot about animal rights and animal welfare. I think a vote for me is perhaps a vote for the entire planet of animals that we share this world with.
“In the words of her dear friend and business partner, fellow Village Animal Clinic veterinarian Dr. Mike McCarthy, ‘Dr. Holly was a brilliant veterinarian [and] fierce advocate for animal health and welfare. She taught in many veterinary schools across the country, instructed the New York State Police about animal abuse laws, taught veterinary forensics courses, testified in many animal abuse cases across the country and, of course, co-founded The Village Animal Clinic in Voorheesville.’
“Holly’s mission in life was to end humanity’s abuse and disregard of animals; she refused to eat anything with a central nervous system, and she dedicated her life to dozens of causes focused on alleviating animal suffering. Her work was both national (testifying before Congress) and local (introducing dozens of Voorheesville’s students to what’s really in a hot dog), and she never relented in the face of the (often enraged) critics she made uncomfortable by her uncompromising, unselfconscious, and unapologetic truth-telling.
“Dr. Holly Cheever, DVM was an unparalleled talent with an unrivaled intellect and an unmatched capacity for compassion. To the many animals who were lucky enough to find themselves in her care, she was their voice. She is missed, both because she was so loved and because her advocacy was so crucial.
“After a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. Holly passed away surrounded by her entire family on Sunday, February 9, 2025. She was 75. For those seeking to pay their respects and honor Holly’s legacy, her family has expressed the following: In lieu of flowers, don’t eat meat. In lieu of not eating meat, always be kind to animals.”
We have included parts of Jesse’s obituary here because in a very personal way it touches on what made Holly such a unique and extraordinary individual, and how her values and mission in life meshed so well with NYSHA. She constantly taught and mentored us, and besides being our friend and hero, she will continue to be a role model for generations. We will miss her leadership and formidable commitment to make the world a much kinder and better place. Her accomplishments filled the years she spent with us and we are so grateful for that time.
Click here to see full obituary.
New York State Humane Association Humane Review, Vol.XLV, Spring 2025.