George Wells Ladd (1925-2016)

LADD, JOHNSTON, SCHULZ, MICHAEL, BURKHART, GOLIC

Posted By: Mark Christian
Date: 5/30/2016 at 10:41:52

Obituary From Adams Soderstrum Funeral Home, Story County, Iowa.

George Wells Ladd, 91, of Ames, Iowa, died May 22, 2016, at Green Hills Retirement Community. He was born on April 28, 1925, in Brookings, South Dakota, to Leonard L. Ladd and Helen Johnston Ladd. He lived on the family farm until moving to Mitchell, S.D., in 1933, where his mother died after an extended illness. He moved to Huron, S.D., in 1936, and graduated from Huron High School in 1942. He served in the US Marine Corps from 1943 to 1946, after which he attended college, earning a B.S. degree from South Dakota State College (now University) in 1950, an M.A. from Michigan State in 1951, and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1955. He taught economics at Iowa State from 1955 to 1992, when he retired as Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor in Agriculture. During these years he carefully mentored over 60 graduate students and compiled a substantial and innovative record of scholarly publication. In 1979 he received an award from the American Agricultural Economics Association for an outstanding journal published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics. In 1987 he was named a Fellow of that association.

In his retirement he continued his devotion to fishing and to reading histories and mysteries. He gave generous support to favored charities. He also courted occasional controversy with his letters to the editor of this newspaper.

One of his fondest memories was of his wedding to Marlys Elaine Schulz on September 11, 1948, in Brookings, S.D. She survives him, as do his daughter, Lisa Ladd and her husband, David Michael of Ames; his son, Brian and his wife, Louise Burkhart and their daughter, Clare of Guilderland, N.Y.; his sister, Marian Jean Golic of Overland Park, Kan.; and two nephews and a niece.

He was a member of Collegiate United Methodist Church for many years. He will be buried at the Ames Municipal Cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be directed to Habitat for Humanity of Central Iowa at www.hfhci.org, the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation at www.inhf.org, or Hope Ministries of Des Moines at www.hopeiowa.org.

Funeral Service
MAY 27. 11:00 AM
Collegiate United Methodist Church
2622 Lincoln Way
Ames, IA, US, 50014

http://www.adamssoderstrum.com/
 

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