SARANAC LAKE — Around two dozen people lined up on the sidewalk of Riverside Park, on Wednesday afternoon, waving blue and yellow flags for Ukraine at a weekly protest locals have held for a year and a half. But this week, they were missing one of their key members — John Cogar, a longtime Saranac Lake veterinarian, activist and bobsledder who died unexpectedly last week at age 76.
Amidst the talk of the war in Ukraine, international politics and local happenings, attendees mourned the loss of their friend and fellow supporter of Ukraine — a man who also cared for many of their pets throughout his life.
DIED UNEXPECTEDLY
When Cogar opened the High Peaks Animal Hospital in Ray Brook in 1989, it was a time when those services were rare in the Tri-Lakes. He was the only one who offered emergency care. He had started his career in the North Country as a partner at a practice in Bloomingdale, opened HPAH and grew it into a successful practice with a satellite office in Malone.
His clients, friends and family said he worked with empathy and compassion for humans and animals alike.
On the afternoon of Aug. 21, New York State Police responded to Lower Saranac Lake, north of Eagle Island. State Police spokeswoman Brandi Ashley said an investigation revealed that Cogar jumped into the lake, but did not resurface. The State Police Underwater Recovery Team, state Department of Environmental Conservation and local fire and rescue teams conducted an active search for Cogar. On Sunday, he was found deceased in the water.
Ashley said there are no signs of foul play. The results of an autopsy were not immediately available on Thursday.
WIDESPREAD PRAISE
Following the news of Cogar’s death, hundreds of people from around the region began talking about all the pets whose lives he saved, improved or peacefully ended. He continued to do at-home euthanasia in his semi-retirement.
Barb Ryan said Cogar took care of all of her cats and dogs for a long time.
“He had seen them all,” Ryan said. “He was just a compassionate soul.”
She said he knew it was tough when they had to put an animal down, and he was joyful when they got a new one.
Cogar’s daughter Jody attended Wednesday’s walk to honor her father and his “commitment to prioritizing compassion for all beings.”
“He was so passionate about his love for Ukraine and his desire for the Ukrainian people to experience peace once again,” she said. “I hope that people can continue my dad’s legacy by continuing to show up for one another, whether that be for our neighbors or for those living abroad. He would want us to continue to fight for one another and truly believed that we are stronger when united.”
With his wife Marie, they had a farm with horses and goats.
Jacquelyn Bentley met Cogar when she started working at High Peaks Animal Hospital in 2015. She said five years of working together was “not enough.”
“Yes, he was a veterinarian, but he was an even greater man,” Bentley said.
“He was a people person,” she added.
He would bring his employees out on boat rides in the evenings, have them over for Christmas parties at his house, crack open beers with them after the work day and never missed his receptionist’s son’s Saturday football games.
‘I’VE GOT YOU COVERED’
She still laughs when she thinks about Cogar cracking up in the back room on the day when a client showed up to have her dog checked out, and was sitting patiently in the waiting room when she realized she forgot the dog at home.
They had similar backgrounds and philosophies and always wished they met earlier in their careers because they worked well together. A week into the job, she had a family tragedy across the country.
“He barely knew me and he was like, ‘Don’t worry. I’ve got you covered,’” Bentley said.
Bentley noted that Cogar trained many veterinarians over the years, growing the next generation of the field.
“They grew up at his practice,” Bentley said.
After he sold HPAH in 2019, she struck out on her own, opening the Paws and Claws mobile vet clinic.
Bentley said veterinary medicine has changed a lot over the years and Cogar was always willing to try new things.
Erin Quonce worked as a receptionist at HPAH for three years when she moved to town in 2007. She said Cogar took her under his wing, and became a father figure to her.
He was stern but loving, and when he meant business, he meant business, she said.
Quonce remembers him getting mad at her for letting a customer leave without paying a bill. His admonishment to “never assume” stuck with her and has guided her decisions.
She said he was selfless, caring and always active.
Paul Vincent, of Keene, recalled sliding with Cogar in the two-man world championships in 1978.
“We ran the pilot run along with a couple of other sleds,” Vincent told the Enterprise. “Not sure, but I think they were German and Swiss sleds. … We had a very nice run. Shortly after getting to the bottom, we find out that we had just had a run of 1.05.93, faster than the track record. It was a very memorable event for us.”
Cogar put this energy into his important work, too.
“I saw him do surgeries and save animals’ lives,” Quonce said.
UKRAINE WALKS
Melissa Kukurudza, who organizes the Ukraine walks, worked as a receptionist and head receptionist at High Peaks Animal Hospital for eight years. He taught her about business, health insurance and even covered her health insurance until she got her own.
“I learned a ton, more than you can actually learn at college,” Kukurudza said.
When she started holding the walks, she reconnected with Cogar. They would talk about politics, local and global.
“He was my boss. Then, when I started doing this and he joined, he was like, ‘Look at that. You’re bossing your boss around,’” Kukurudza said.
Marching with him at the Ukraine walks, Ryan said Cogar was “a man of integrity.”
“You derived strength when you came because you knew John was here,” she said.
ALL ABOUT A CAUSE
He would be walking around talking to everybody, wearing his Ukrainian flag and Tryzub hat.
Kukurudza said he was “always going.” She’d have to reel him in at walks because he was always walking ahead of the group.
“He was all about a cause,” Bentley said.
In October 2022, he took his skills abroad to a war zone when he traveled with the late USA Luge marketing manager Dmitry Feld to Irpin, Ukraine, just eight months after Russia’s still-ongoing invasion of the country began.
He graduated from the University of Rochester in 1971 and Cornell Veterinary School in 1975. He was on five United States national bobsled teams, and during that time he met Feld and the two became good friends.
When Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, Cogar started raising money for Ukraine. When he asked Feld what else he could do, he shortly found himself on a plane with a suitcase filled with medical supplies and surgical instruments, heading to Kyiv.
The invasion led to an increase in abandoned dogs and cats and a shortage of veterinarians.