PULLMAN, Wash. — Reuben L. Dohrendorf, a Washington State University junior from Kingston, was awarded the first Max Ward Hammond Memorial Scholarship at the 41st awards banquet of the College of Agriculture and Home Economics on Saturday (April 15).
The $1,500 scholarship honors the memory of Max Hammond, a prominent figure in Columbia Basin agriculture who died in 1996. He worked with growers throughout eastern Washington during a career with Cenex/Land O’Lakes.
“I think he would have been very pleased,” said Gary Pelter, WSU Grant County Cooperative Extension. “Max believed very highly in education. His whole family is committed to education.”Pelter worked closely with Hammond for nearly 20 years. Hammond lived in Ephrata for 22 years where he farmed and worked for the farm cooperative. His last position was as manager and senior research agronomist.
Hammond held a courtesy appointment in WSU’s horticulture and landscape architecture department for many years. He also served on the Research Advisory Committee of the Washington Potato Commission.
During his career, Hammond helped write fertilizer regulations for Washington state and was involved in the Certified Crop Adviser program in the Pacific Northwest.
He was active in the American Society of Agronomy, the Soil Science Society of America, the Potato Association of America, the Weed Science Society of America, the Washington State Soil Improvement Committee, the National Groundwater Association and the Washington State Weed Association. Hammond served as president of the Washington State Weed Association in 1993.
Hammond was inducted posthumously into the Ag Consultant magazine Hall of Fame in 1997. An article by Brian Kantz in the magazine described Hammond as “one of the pre-eminent agronomists in the Pacific Northwest.”
Hammond, was born in Billings, Mont., in 1944, grew up in Red Lodge, Mont., and Lewiston, Utah. His family moved to Quincy in 1962. After high school, he served a two-year mission in England for the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints.
He married Venice Larsen of Quincy in 1965. He received a bachelor’s of science degree in agronomy at Brigham Young University in 1971, a master’s of science in soil sciences from Cornell University in 1978 and a doctorate in plant science from Utah University in 1978.
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