Showing the passion of Lucas Regula

Regula family posing together with Lucas holding the daughter.

By Matt Marx

Hard-working, talented, and passionate for the cattle industry, Lucas Regula was a devoted husband and father whose tenacious battle with brain cancer ended at age 33.

August 30, 2020 marks the one-year anniversary of the passing of Regula (BS 2009, animal, dairy & poultry sciences), who is remembered by his wife, Allison, daughter, Autumn Rose, and many other relatives and friends.

To honor his memory, Allison’s grandparents Betty and John Baird (BS 1958, dairy science) have established an endowment in Regula’s name to support financially-challenged students in The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.

Lucas RegulaThe Lucas J. Regula Memorial Scholarship Fund (#645993) provides scholarships to CFAES undergraduates in need who are active members of Ohio State’s livestock judging team or are majoring in animal sciences while attending the Columbus campus. 

It is the fifth endowment fund established by the Bairds and the fourth in the college. The longtime donors place tremendous value in CFAES’ academic programs and in education in general.

“Establishing a foundation for Luke Regula was an easy decision for Betty and myself,” said John Baird, of Springfield, Ohio. “Our hope for this foundation is to help students who are pursuing a degree in the animal sciences.  We cannot bring Luke back; however, the memories of Luke can live on as scholarship recipients pursue a degree in the field that Luke enjoyed.

“Luke was a very hard worker with a bright future. Luke loved his family, his work, and had a passion for the cattle industry like no other,” Baird said. “He had a special talent for breeding and showing cattle and loved being competitive on the show circuit.”

The 2007 Livestock Judging Team posing together.

Regula especially enjoyed being around show cattle. In college, he competed on the livestock judging team and was an active member of Alpha Gamma Rho.

He and Allison (BS 2009, food business management) met in college and they married in 2010.

“He was one in a million,” Allison Regula said. “He had a zest for life and was relentless in the pursuit of making things—whether it be his work, himself or his co-workers/friends—better. He never tired. He never once complained about hardships or his illness.”

At Elanco Animal Health, where he worked, earned a strong reputation as a leader among colleagues and customers. 

Regula spent a decade with Elanco, first as an ambitious and spirited college intern, and later as a full-time employee, holding positions of increasing responsibility serving cattle customers in the U.S., said Grady Bishop, Elanco’s executive director of global beef marketing.

“Lucas’s intelligence, candor and straightforward, customer-focus made an immediate impact on our company, and anyone who had the pleasure to work around him,” Bishop said. “Nearly a year after his passing, Lucas’s legacy still lives on as someone who lived out our brand with a fervor and passion we all strive to achieve. His passing was an unimaginable loss for the Elanco family, but we still celebrate what he brought into our lives.”

Her husband always desired to make an impact on the world around him, Allison Regula said, and those who knew him would say he was successful. 

“The world is quieter and dimmer without him,” she said. “He would want us all to think about what kind of impact we can each make and to use that to drive us to keep moving forward.”

Those wishing to honor Lucas Regula and help CFAES students can do so here.