By Sharon Omahen


University of Georgia

Robert Lowrey, the late Brooks Pennington Jr. and Garland
Thompson were named to the Georgia Agricultural Hall of Fame
Sept. 5 in Athens, Ga.

Since 1972, the University of Georgia College of Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences has recognized Georgians who have
extraordinarily contributed to agriculture by inducting them into
the Georgia Agricultural Hall of Fame.

The Hall includes Georgia governors, lawyers, farmers,
bankers, educators and others. Their portraits are displayed in
the CAES Activity Center on the UGA campus in Athens, Ga.

Robert Lowrey

Lowrey grew up in Floyd County, Ga. He earned bachelor’s and
master’s degrees in animal science from UGA and a Ph.D. in animal
nutrition from Cornell University.

After working with the Atomic Energy Agricultural Research Lab
in Oak Ridge, Tenn., he returned to UGA as an animal science
researcher on a team studying beef cattle nutrition. The team’s
efforts led to the release of Coastcross-1 Bermuda grass.

Lowrey was highly regarded by his more than 3,000 students. He
received many teaching awards, including the D.W. Brooks and
Josiah Meigs awards. More than 50 of his former students work for
the UGA Extension Service. Many more are successful vocational
agriculture teachers, farmers and leaders.

Since Lowrey retired in 1999, an endowed scholarship in his
name has attracted more than $37,000 in contributions, an
indication of the high esteem in which his students, colleagues,
friends and family hold him.

Brooks Pennington, Jr.

Pennington dedicated his life to building Pennington Seed,
Inc., one of the most successful agribusinesses in the nation,
which was founded by his father.

He studied agricultural engineering and agronomy at UGA and
put his knowledge to work at his family business. His textbook,
“Seeds and Planting in the South,” is a standard for many
Southern colleges of agriculture.

The chair of President Jimmy Carter’s first campaign for
governor, he was also Carter’s presidential campaign agricultural
coordinator in 1976.

Pennington served in both chambers of the Georgia General
Assembly. For eight years he chaired the Georgia Senate
agriculture and natural resources committee.

He donated his political pay to the Brooks Pennington Sr.
Scholarship Fund. This fund has enabled more than 30 students to
attend college. Seven years after his death, Pennington is still
touching students’ lives through his scholarship fund.

Garland Thompson

Thompson is an agricultural banker and avid soil
conservationist. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran, he earned degrees
from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College and UGA.

At the Trust Company Bank of Coffee County, he pioneered
banking services now offered in banks across Georgia.

Thompson is a member and past chairman of the Georgia Bankers
Association Agriculture Committee, which informs bankers on
community, economic and agribusiness development issues.

While chairing the Southeast Georgia Area Planning and
Development Commission, Thompson helped establish a $4 million
ethanol fuels distillery that bought wheat and corn from local
farmers.

His efforts also led the expansion of a jet aircraft engine
component manufacturer that created 300 new jobs, a $10 million
Coats and Clark yarn plant (250 jobs) and Joseph Campbell
Company’s purchase of Douglas Foods (700 jobs).

He has been a district soil-and-water supervisor for almost 30
years, and in 1977, Gov. George Busbee appointed him to the State
Soil Conservation Committee, which finds ways to develop land
without harming the environment. He was reappointed by Governors
Joe Frank Harris and Zell Miller and named chairman by Roy
Barnes.

In 1982, Thompson was named Man of the Year in Service to
Georgia by Progressive Farmer magazine for his solid, lifelong
support of agriculture and agricultural research and extension in
Georgia.

To learn more about the Georgia
Agricultural Hall of Fame, see
the Hall of Fame Web site
(interests.caes.uga.edu/aghalloffame/).