A few dogs and cats were welcome. A bearded dragon and a hamster were fine. But Laurie Rhody drew the line at a tarantula.

Her husband, Jeff Rhody, treated all kinds of pets at his Laurel veterinary center, but he especially loved working with exotic animals. If it were up to him, the house would have also had a couple of snakes, birds and rabbits.

When Jeff retired in 2022, closing the Lakeside Veterinary Center in Laurel after 34 years, he left a gap in the field, his wife said. He was one of few Maryland veterinarians licensed to care for small mammals and reptiles.

Rhody, a loving husband and father who enjoyed trips to the Caribbean, died Jan. 12 of posterior cortical atrophy, a form of dementia. He was 67.

“He was just sure of himself, and he knew what kind of vet he wanted to be,” Laurie Rhody said, “and that was a very thorough vet who didn’t leave any stone unturned.”

Jeff Rhody was born June 10, 1958, in Baltimore to Dolores and Elmer Rhody. He was their only child and found companionship in extended family and a big friend group. Alan Rhody, a cousin who lived nearby and was three months younger, said the two grew up spending time together kicking or throwing a ball. They both rebelled in high school, and Jeff saluted the ’70s with an Afro.

“We operated as a unit,” Alan Rhody said.

Jeff played baseball throughout childhood, and he pitched on his high school team. Baseball was a bonding activity for him and his father, an Orioles season ticket holder.

Jeff grew up with dachshunds but never dreamed of becoming a veterinarian, his cousin said. He started becoming passionate about the field while studying at the University of Maryland, College Park. He graduated in three years and continued his education at the Ohio State University.

After college, he worked at a veterinary practice in Frederick, where he met Laurie, a receptionist-turned-technician.

Jeff soon left to work in Glen Burnie, but the two stayed in touch through mutual friends. They started dating about six months later. For the next three-plus decades, she said, her stomach did a happy flip-flop every time he entered a room.

The longer Jeff worked at the Glen Burnie practice, the more he realized he wanted a more close-knit work environment, Laurie said. So, after Jeff asked her to marry him, he made another proposal: become his business partner.

The couple opened the Lakeside Veterinary Center in 1988 and wed in 1989. They didn’t honeymoon, because they were each pulling 12-to-14-hour days. Three years later, they welcomed their first son, Sam, and Jake came a year after.

Jeff was a workaholic but took Sundays and Wednesdays off to spend time with the kids, said Sam, now 33. They golfed and took annual vacations. Jeff loved snorkeling and swimming, and he always bought his wife jewelry during trips to the Caribbean. He also was an amateur photographer and an expert board game player.

“It took a really, really long time before I was able to win against him,” Sam said.

Work often kept Jeff from his family, but he always made it home for baseball games, graduations and other big moments, Laurie said.

“I’m 65 years old, and my parents have never once told me that they loved me,” Laurie said. “But Jeff never ceased to tell me, and then when the boys came along, to tell the boys that he loved us.”

He later did the same with his two grandsons, Max and Logan.

For years, Jeff was Lakeside’s sole practitioner, though he later expanded the practice and hired a few employees. Amy East started working there in 2001 as a vet technician and office manager.

“He wasn’t uptight, like some of the vets I had previous run-ins with,” East said. “I like that small feeling where your vet is part of your family, and he certainly projected that when I talked to him.”

About 60% of patients were cats and dogs, Laurie estimated, and the others were exotic animals. Jeff was allergic to guinea pigs, but he loved working with them anyway.

One time, East said, he performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the rodent because “he felt they deserve as much care” as any other animal.

“We laughed afterwards, but he would put himself in situations to care for an animal that maybe weren’t as healthy for him,” East said.

Being a veterinarian can be stressful, East said, but Jeff went about his days with humor and an open heart. He loved a good prank — the veterinary center saw more than one water fight in its day — and discounted treatments for clients who had trouble affording pet care.

“That’s the kind of person he was,” East said. “He loved the animals, but he really cared about those people that were with those animals.”

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