Mrs. Jean Kilgore

It was Dr. Benjamin Kilgore’s family’s hope that this endowment would encourage and motivate students to take full advantage of preparing themselves for successful careers in the food industry. Dr. Kilgore was identified with every progressive movement in North Carolina agriculture during his life. He was a deep thinking scientist, an able administrator, and a sound businessman who served NC State University during the first half of the 20th century as Director of the Agricultural Extension Service, Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station, and Dean of Agriculture at North Carolina State College. He was also a State Chemist and founder of Pine State Creamery. Dr. Kilgore’s greatest contribution to North Carolina was his thoughtful and fundamental consideration of North Carolina’s underlying agricultural problems. With his vision and knowledge, he did more than any other person of his day to fashion the pattern by which North Carolina would move ahead through the future. He became known throughout the South as perhaps the greatest agricultural scientist and leader. After his death in 1943, North Carolina State University named Kilgore Hall in his honor and in 1969, he was enshrined in the North Carolina Agricultural Hall of Fame. Scholarships from this endowment are awarded to students majoring in Food Science in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at NC State.