Keith R. Long
LONG, KEHMEIER, WHEELER, GRAHAM
Posted By: Sarah Fletcher (email)
Date: 2/3/2021 at 08:48:06
Keith R. Long, 98, of Lone Tree and formerly of Iowa City, died at Mercy Hospital in Iowa City on January 27, 2021.
Respecting Keith’s wishes, he was cremated and private family services will be held at a later time in Colorado.
Keith was born March 17, 1922, to Inez Perkins Long and Samuel Everett Long at Lincoln, Kansas. After graduating high school, Keith entered the armed services on October 22, 1942 and after time in the Air Force and specialized training at Colorado State University, served as a medical technician at the Base Hospital, Camp Cooke, California. Keith was united in marriage to Hazel Kehmeier at Eckert, Colorado, May 15, 1945. In 1951 and 1953, he received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Kansas in microbiology and a doctorate from the University of Iowa in 1960 in microbiology and biochemistry. He served three years as a research associate in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Kansas Medical Center before coming to Iowa in 1956, where he joined the staff of the State Hygienic Laboratory as senior bacteriologist. In 1958, he became an instructor in the Department of Microbiology while continuing graduate studies. He was also appointed assistant professor of the former Department of Preventive Medicine and Environmental Health in 1958 and served for 28 years, retiring in 1986.
During his tenure he held positions of professor, acting departmental chairman, vice chairman of the department, and director of the former Institute of Agricultural Medicine and Environmental Health. He held a joint position as Professor of Civil Engineering. He served as a member of state and national committees including the Governors Science Advisory Council, Advisory Committee to the State Secretary of Agriculture, the Health Advisory Committee of the National Farm Bureau Federation, and as Science Advisor to the Pesticides Division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He served on the Threshold Limits Committee of the American Conference of Governmental Hygienists for eight years. Locally he served on the Board of Directors of Ecumenical Towers as a board member and president. Keith was nationally recognized authority on pesticide exposures and human health. After retirement, he served 13 years as chairman of the Migrant Farm Worker Health Advisory Panel to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency where he was instrumental in helping develop the present national standards for migrant farm worker health protection.
Keith was a member of the First Presbyterian Church where he has served as teacher, deacon, elder, and chairman of the building committee that oversaw the construction of the present edifice at 2701 Rochester Avenue.
He is survived by son Don Long and his wife Ellen; daughters Susan Long, Sheri Long and husband Joe, Jeanne Wheeler, and Peggy Graham and husband Kent; seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Keith was preceded in death by his wife Hazel in 2018.
Lensing Funeral & Cremation Service
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