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Robert H. Rumler, long-time Holstein-Friesian Association of America Executive Secretary and dedicated dairy industry leader passed away on January 11, 2010; he was 94 years old. Rumler served as Executive Secretary of the Holstein-Friesian Association of America (now Holstein Association USA, Inc.) from 1953 to 1975.
Born and raised on a Pennsylvania dairy farm, Rumler graduated with honors from Pennsylvania State University in 1936. After graduation, he went on to serve as assistant county agent in Missouri.
Eighteen months later, Rumler returned to Pennsylvania, and became the youngest man to ever be named county agent in the history of the Pennsylvania Extension Service; a role he held for nearly eight years. From there, he went to Dupont where he was editor and assistant manager of the Agricultural Promotion Division for three years.
Rumler's career with the Holstein Association began in 1948 when he was hired as Assistant Executive Secretary to long-time Executive Secretary H.W. "Hod" Norton, Jr. Upon Norton's retirement in December, 1953, Rumler was promoted to Executive Secretary, a position he held until 1975, when Charles J. Larson succeeded him.
In 1975, Rumler became Executive Chairman of the Association, a position he held until January, 1981 when he retired. He held the title of Chairman Emeritus until his passing. |
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Robert H. Rumler
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The Holstein breed's influence grew a great deal under Rumler's leadership. By the time the distinguished leader retired, over 75 percent of the Registered dairy cattle in the U.S. were Holstein. During his tenure, active membership in the Holstein-Friesian Association grew from 18,000 to 27,000 with total membership in excess of 40,000. In the mid-1970s, the Holstein-Friesian Association installed a computer center and became the largest single source of genetic data and information on the Holstein breed in the world.
Rumler gave much of his time to other dairy organizations. In 1967, he was selected by the USDA as one of four advisors to the newly appointed Joint Task Force on Dairy Research. The next year, he was elected President of National Dairy Shrine. Rumler also served as an officer and director of the National Society of Livestock Record Associations. Additionally, he provided leadership to the Purebred Dairy Cattle Association and was an original member of the National DHIA coordinating group.
In 1976, Rumler was named National Dairy Shrine Guest of Honor, in 1978 he was named a Distinguished Alumnus of Penn State, and in 1979 he received World Dairy Expo's Industry Person of the Year Award. He was recognized as World Dairy Expo's International Person of the Year in 1996 and is the only person to win two of World Dairy Expo's recognition awards.
March 13, 2010 at 11:00 a.m.
St. John's United Church of Christ
1811 Lincoln Way
East
Chambersburg, PA 17202
717.263.8593
Family will be receiving friends from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. on March 12, 2010 at Kelso-Cornelius Funeral Home,
725 Norland Avenue, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.
To honor Bob Rumler in supporting a scholarship at Penn State at Mont Alto, contributions may be sent to Penn State Mont Alto, University Relations, 1 Campus Drive, Mont Alto, Pennsylvania 17237.
Online condolences may be expressed at www.kelso-corneliusfuneralhomes.com.
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