Dr. Keith Kraner

Dr. Keith Leroy Kraner, 89, of Marietta, OH passed away Monday, February 26, 2018. He was born in Indiana in 1929 to Gerald and Frances Scott Kraner.  He was preceded in death by his wife, Mary Ash Kraner, his parents, six brothers and one sister.  He is survived by his daughters, Karen Kraner of Frederick, MD and Lisa Nichols (Price) of Columbia, MO, and two grandchildren, Katie and Hayden Nichols of Columbia, MO.

He was one of thirteen children with nine brothers and three sisters and is survived by: one sister, Marilynn Clifton of Wren, OH; one half sister, Norma Krueckeberg of Decatur, IN; three half brothers, Ronnie Kraner, of Florida, Homer Kraner (Joy) of Rockford, OH, and Max Kraner (Barbara) of Van Wert, OH; two sisters-in-law, Martha Busch Ash of Marietta, OH, and Martha Ash Hunter (Howard) of Marietta, OH.

Keith was a member of the Church of Christ at Warner, OH

He attended the OSU College of Veterinary Medicine.  Following college, Dr. Kraner served in the U.S. Air Force, both at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, D.C. which earned him the Commendation Medals of the Air Force and the Army. He pioneered survival surgical techniques in fetal animals, namely a sheep.  In addition, he sent the first monkey into space and conducted cosmic ray studies which evaluated their risks to astronauts in space.

Dr. Kraner became professor of veterinary medicine and surgery at the University of Missouri and was the director of the Department of Laboratory Animal Medicine.

He took a position at the National Institute of Health near Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, and worked as the scientific review administrator of the Surgery, Anesthesiology and Trauma Study Section.  He contributed to major advances in human medicine and research and was well known for his articles in the DVM magazine.  After 28 years of service, he retired as a captain of the Air Force and moved to Marietta to be closer to Mary's family.

Viewing will be at the Roberts Funeral Home on Thursday, March 1 from 2-4 and 6-8.  His funeral will be on Friday, March 2 at 1:30 at the funeral home, where military rites will be held. Burial will follow at East Lawn Memorial Park.