Farmer's $500K Gift Will Support Faculty Renewal Effort

By CnAgri2012-07-10 18:52:20 Print

It's been more than 50 years since George Mueller graduated from Cornell's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), but the dairy farmer still remembers the professors that shaped his professional life and personal worldview.

Now, in an effort to ensure that future generations of Cornell students are similarly shaped by inspirational teachers, Mueller '54 has made a $500,000 gift to support the hiring of a faculty member in Farm Business Management as part of the college's Faculty Renewal Initiative.

For Mueller, owner with wife Mary Lue of Willow Bend Farm in Clifton Springs, N.Y., it was Stan Warren and Herrell F. De Graff who had the greatest impact on his education.

"I have the fondest of memories of Stan Warren's classes in farm management and farm appraisal," Mueller said. "The knowledge and wisdom I learned from Professor Stan Warren have been the foundation of my farming decisions."

De Graff was a highly sought-after international adviser following World War II, as nations scrambled to restore their agricultural production, and his popular introductory course in worldwide agricultural geography, history and economics was eye-opening for Mueller.

"The seed that Professor De Graff planted in me, as to the benefits of freedom and the free market capitalist system for feeding the world and keeping world peace, has been nurtured and grown in my mind for the past 60 years," Mueller said.

Mueller said he would love to see Cornell continue to be a leader in international agricultural economics, especially as the world faces major challenges in sustainable food production.

"I have always been proud to have graduated from the best agricultural college in the world and an Ivy League school besides," Mueller said. "Mary Lue and I are now in our twilight years, and we are looking for ways to pay back Cornell for the good boost it gave us in getting our career off to a good start and continued to help us along the way with its very effective Cornell Cooperative Extension."

"Teaching is highly valued at CALS. This generous gift from the Muellers shows that it is also valued by alumni," said Kathryn Boor, the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

"With our alumni's continued support, we will be able to hire the most accomplished researchers and teachers in agriculture and related areas who will define both our college and its leadership on behalf of New York's food and agriculture industries for decades to come," she added.