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Poultry industry leader Harold Ford dies
Story Date: 12/18/2012
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Source: Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE, 12/17/12
Harold Ford, retired executive director of the former Southeastern Poultry & Egg Association (now U.S. Poultry & Egg Association), died Friday, USPOULTRY announced in a news release.
Visitation was held on Sunday in Decatur, Ga. The funeral will be held at 11 a.m. on Monday at Smoke Rise Baptist Church in Stone Mountain, Ga.
Ford was preceded in death by his wife Wanda. He is survived by three daughters: Karen, Debbie, and Anita, along with grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Ford first joined the association in 1954 at its headquarters in Richmond, Va. The Kentucky native ad previously served as assistant commissioner of agriculture in Kentucky. In 1957, he was named executive secretary of the association, commonly called SOUTHEASTERN. The headquarters was moved to Decatur, Ga.
In 1961, Ford left the association to join Mar-Jac Poultry Co. in Gainesville, Ga. In 1967, after several years with Mar-Jac and Sanderson Farms in Mississippi, he was asked by the SOUTHEASTERN board of directors to return as executive secretary. He guided the association to prominence as one of the most effective and influential trade associations, not only in the poultry industry, but throughout the United States. He retired in 1992.
The association’s foundation is named after him, along with the organization’s highest recognition, the Harold E. Ford Lifetime Achievement Award. Ford also was inducted into the Poultry Industry Hall of Fame.
Current U.S. Poultry & Egg Association president John Starkey, praised Ford: “Harold was passionate about our industry and about our organization, and we will be forever grateful for his leadership and the example he set for service to the poultry industry.”
Retired Association president Don Dalton also lauded him: “Harold Ford was a great mentor to me and a wonderful personal friend. He had an exceptional ability of looking at an issue and getting right to the matter. He was a wonderful man of integrity who will be greatly missed.”
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