Dr. Robert Henry Harms served on the faculty of the Poultry Science Department at the University of Florida for many years. He resigned as chairman of the department in 1986 to devote full time to research. Harms was one of the first poultry nutrition researchers to recognize that feeding poultry in hot climates required a different approach, and developed nutritional formulas. His daily intake formulas have been adopted worldwide. His research has been credited with saving the Florida poultry industry some $6 million per year in feeding layer hens alone, decreasing costs, improving profitability and benefiting consumers with a fresh quality supply of poultry and eggs at a lower cost. The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences has recognized Dr. Harms as one of its five outstanding researchers of the past 100 years.
Raymond P. Oglesby, president of Oglesby Plant Laboratories, has contributed extensively to Florida’s agriculture in the area of tissue culture. He developed a disease-free banana plant now used extensively in Jamaica. He later used the expertise gained in working with bananas to apply tissue culture to avocadoes, pineapples, plantains and to foliage plants. A virus-free potato developed by Oglesby was used by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a seed stock. His tissue culture laboratory was the first in Florida and served as the forerunner of the tissue culture system now proliferating into many other agricultural commodities. He is a charter member of the Florida Nurserymen and Growers Association and holds the longest tenure as chairman of the Tropical Plant Industry Exhibition Trade Show.
Carl G. Rose was born on a farm in Indiana and moved to Florida in 1916 to supervise construction of the first asphalt road in Florida. Standard road materials appeared not to work well with asphalt paving and Rose began experimenting with limestone, found in abundance in north-central Florida. He realized the limestone-based soil would be ideal for raising livestock so he moved to Ocala in 1918 and began buying land. By the time he died in 1963, Rose was said to be responsible for the establishment of 30 Thoroughbred horse farms in Marion County. Throughout his life, Rose promoted agriculture in many ways – through improving pasture grasses, promotion of purebred cattle, organizing the Southeastern Livestock Show and Sale and working with FFA and 4-H clubs. In his business life, he was president of the Ocala Limerock Corporation, Marion Construction Company, Marion Motor Company, Ocala Insurance and Investment Company and Marimere Corporation.
Dr. E.T. York, Jr., is best known as the founder of the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. He brought the semiautonomous College of Agriculture, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, and Florida Experiment Station under unified leadership to strengthen their missions of teaching, extension and agricultural research. He founded the DARE (Developing Agricultural Resources Effectively) conferences and the SHARE (Special Help for Agricultural Research and Education) program which has raised millions of dollars in private funding to aid the university. After serving as executive vice-president and interim president of the university, Dr. York served as chancellor of the state university system for six years and is a distinguished service professor at UF. In 1967, Dr. York was named “Man of the Year in Service to Florida Agriculture” by Progressive Farmer Magazine and was a recipient of the National 4-H Alumni Award.
