Meet Our Family Owners
Thank you for trusting us with the care of your pet.
With the passionate belief that pets make our lives better, Dr. Robert Hess and his wife Jean worked tirelessly for 30 years to make Winter Park Veterinary Hospital the place to go for quality animal care in Central Florida. A native Floridian, Dr. Hess grew up with pets at his side – and found joy and purpose in rescuing and caring for injured animals. This passion led to a decades-long partnership with Audubon and other organizations that support our most vulnerable friends in the wild. The hospital has deep roots in the community, having been founded in 1955. The Hesses started the modern Winter Park Veterinary Hospital after purchasing the practice from Dr. J.D. Lynch in 1983. They are committed to keeping the hospital a family-run business at a time when so many other hospitals are being sold to large corporations. Having grown up in and at Winter Park Vet, their oldest son Billy returned home to lead the Winter Park team in 2011 after finishing his graduate studies and a professional baseball career in Europe and abroad. As a life-long animal lover, he is committed to continuing the Winter Park Vet Family story.
Our goal is to be Your Vet for Life. We have over 70 dedicated team members committed to partnering with you to help keep your pet healthy and happy throughout their life. Being Your Vet for Life means offering a comprehensive array of services designed to meet all your pet parenting needs. This includes emergency care, wellness care, advanced medical care and the fun stuff like Play Camp and Overnight Camping. As a member of the Winter Park Vet Family we promise to extend the love, the commitment and the compassion we have for all pets to you through our professional care and extraordinary service.
Meet Billy Hess
Billy literally grew up at Winter Park Vet as the oldest son of the founders of the modern-day Winter Park Veterinary Hospital. He is proud and humbled to have the honor to continue both his family’s and Winter Park’s legacy to the next generation.
He spent many summers helping out at Winter Park Vet as a kid. Baseball was his true passion as a child and he pursued that as far as he could go. As a native Floridian from Casselberry, he played at Lyman High School and then went on to play 4 years at Columbia University serving as team captain his final season and winning numerous awards. He always wanted to play professional baseball so when an opportunity arose after graduation to play and coach overseas he jumped at the chance. One season led to another and eight years later – having played in Sweden, Germany, the Czech Republic, South Africa and Australia – he retired to join the family business and help his parents find a path to retirement after 30 years of building Winter Park Vet. He moved back to Central Florida with his wife Eva, whom he met in Europe, and is from Hungary. She is a trained lawyer and now loves the arts and culture of the Winter Park area.
Billy has always been passionate about pets and still remembers his first pet, a cockatiel named Jellybean. He fondly remembers her lovely whistle when he would come home from school or fed her in the morning. He also shares many fond memories of his dad, Dr. Hess, bringing home pets to nurse back to health overnight or wildlife animals to rehab and help get back to living life in the wild. He recalls, “We had a baby deer and flying squirrel that lived with us for a while as child while they were recovering and it was just magical to see such amazing animals up close”. These early memories serve as the foundation for Winter Park Vet continuing their close partnership with Audubon and serving Central Florida’s wildlife as Billy has taken over day to day management of the hospital.
Having received a BA in Psychology and International Relations as well as a MA in International Relations and MBA, Billy’s main focus at Winter Park Veterinary Hospital today is to continue its legacy of providing the absolute best in care and service to our patients and clients. In addition, his family has always believed in making Winter Park Vet a great place to work and grow while serving this amazing profession.
Billy and Eva are passionate about their pets having 2 dogs, a saluki named Circe and a Golden named Mici. They have also rescued 5 cats over the years, all of which have Hungarian names. Billy is an avid golfer and together they love traveling, hiking, and going back to Hungary to visit family and friends.
He looks forward to welcoming your family to the Winter Park Veterinary Hospital Family!
