The Ohio State University Commencement Address by J. George Harrar, Spring 1964
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Date
1964-06-12
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Ohio State University
Abstract
Born in Painesville, Ohio, in 1906, George Harrar spent most of his childhood in nearby Youngstown. He entered Oberlin College at age 16, where he distinguished himself not only as a student but also as a track star. Upon graduating in 1928, Harrar considered entering medical school, but the Depression rendered such an education too expensive. Instead, he supported himself as a teaching fellow at Iowa State University while he earned his M.S. in biology, specializing in plant pathology. In 1929 he embarked on a four-year term as a professor and head of the biology department at the University of Puerto Rico, an experience he later credited with sparking his interest in Latin American language and culture.
April 20, 1982 — Dr. J. George Harrar, a retired president of the Rockefeller Foundation and a biologist who led the foundation's agricultural research that helped produce the so-called Green Revolution, died Sunday at his home in Scarsdale, N.Y. He was 75 years old. While Dr. Harrar was its president -from 1961 until he reached the mandatory retirement age of 65 in 1971 - the foundation's assets doubled, to $1 billion. It was a time when the foundation expanded its activity both in this country and abroad, and increasingly devoted funds to programs promoting equal opportunities for minority groups and, later, to environmental protection.
Description
Commencement address given by Dr. J. George Harrar, President of Rockefeller Foundation, New York, N. Y., to the Spring 1964 graduating class of The Ohio State University, Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio, June 12, 1965.
Keywords
Baccalaureate addresses -- Ohio State University, Columbus