James Clarence Preston ’50, Ed.D. ’68, a former Cornell Cooperative Extension agent who served as a professor of rural sociology at Cornell from 1968-88 and developed the Empire State Food and Agriculture Leadership Institute (LEAD New York), died Sept. 2 at his home in Hector, New York. He was 92.

Alpha Zeta members eager to learn about a great fraternity member, a great statesman, and a global leader for U.S. agriculture and U.S. Foreign Policy, should consider the long, distinguished, and productive life of Indiana’s U.S. Senator Richard G. Lugar, who died aged 87 in April 2019. Lugar was an Honorary member of Alpha Zeta.

Merwyn Davidson, age 85, of Aurora, passed away on Friday, Jan. 18, 2019, at Lincoln.  A Memorial Service will be held at 11 a.m., Saturday, Jan. 26 at the United Methodist Church in Aurora. Revs. Greg Reed, Michelle Reed and Lonnie Ott will officiate. Inurnment will be prior to the church service at 10 a.m. at the Aurora Cemetery.  No Visitation.  In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Love Justice International for the support of Kevin and Sally Bolis missionary work.  

Arnold Pierce Appleby of Corvallis died peacefully at home on December 6, 2018. He was 83 years old.

By Lyndsie Schlink

Instead of heading back to their farms for the night, four Illinois State Department of Agriculture students were waiting in line together in Pesotum to meet their scholarship donor, country megastar Luke Bryan.  This year Illinois State University’s Department of Agriculture was a beneficiary, awarding the Luke Bryan Farm Tour Scholarship to graduate student Joshua McWilliams of Fairbury, senior Zachary Rippel of Roanoke, junior Benjamin Temple of Serena, and senior Susie Thompson of Maple Park.

If you’re thinking about applying and want a career as an agricultural diplomat, AZ alumnus offers help.

Dana G. Dalrymple, a 36-year veteran of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), worked to improve farming practices worldwide. Most of his career was spent working for CGIAR, formerly the Consultative Group for International Agriculture Research, which he supported soon after its inception in 1972.  As an agricultural economist, he shaped the policies, programs and budgets of the agency’s Washington headquarters and 16 international centers in South America, Africa and Asia, and he traveled to most of them.

Dalrymple, 85, died of complications from pneumonia on March 7 at his home in Washington, D.C. after suffering from dementia. Colleagues, friends and family will celebrate his life at a later date to be announced.

Frederick Eshleman Boyer Jr., 96, a former Baker County resident, died Feb. 15, 2018, on hospice from complications following a viral illness at Royalton Place in Milwaukie, surrounded by his family.

John P. Gruber was inducted this week into the Fayette County Ohio Agricultural Hall of Fame at an annual banquet that once again highlighted the longstanding heritage of agriculture in Fayette County, Ohio.

In January, former Kansas U.S. Senator Bob Dole, the 1996 GOP presidential candidate and the longest serving GOP Senate leader, was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for service as a “soldier, legislator and statesman.”