L.B. "Bernie" Daniels, who retired from the U of A in 2001 as a faculty member in the Department of Animal Science, passed away in Fayetteville on July 13. He was 85.
A native of Thornton, Arkansas, who worked on his family's farm in Fordyce, he joined the university as a faculty member in 1969 and became a professor in 1979. He served as associate director of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station for 10 years and served as interim dean of the College of Agriculture before returning to the faculty and teaching.
He taught more than 5,000 students in classes ranging from Introduction to Animal Sciences to Neonatal Physiology and Bio-Energetics. He was the major adviser to 44 graduate students and mentored another 66 as part of their committees. He published more than 70 peer-reviewed research articles and helped advance the understanding of ruminant nutrition for dairy and beef cattle. In all, Daniels served the U of A and the UA System Division of Agriculture for almost 40 years.
He was instrumental in fundraising for several U of A projects, including the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science, the UA Center for Advanced Spatial Technology, the Rosen Center, the Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies, the USDA-ARS Rice Germplasm Center at Stuttgart and the Pauline Whitaker Animal Science Center. He also aided in the development of the food safety consortium between the U of A, Iowa State University and Kansas State University, and provided leadership to numerous regional and national agricultural organizations such as the Rural Policy Research Institute, the American Agricultural Research Institute and Agricenter International, helping shape agricultural research and policy across the country.
He was inducted into the Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame as a member of Class XXXII in 2019.
Daniels graduated from Thornton High School in 1958 and began college at Southern State College (now Southern Arkansas University). He earned his bachelor's in animal nutrition (1962) and master's in animal physiology (1963) from the U of A, and his doctorate at the University of Missouri (1969).
After earning his master's, he worked with the UADA Cooperative Extension Service as an assistant agent in Desha County. He was transferred to Little River County as an agent, where Ralph Williams, then the Extension dairy specialist, convinced him to return to school for his Ph.D., leading to the assistant professor position in 1969.
He and his wife of 63 years, Jean Ann, had three children - Michael, Michelle and Missy - who all earned doctorate degrees. Two earned Ph.D.s in agricultural disciplines and one in early childhood development. Michael is a Distinguished Professor of crop, soil and environmental sciences with UADA in Little Rock. A grandson, Bryce Daniels, is an assistant professor of health with the UADA Cooperative Extension Service.
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