COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Pilgrim's Pride co-founder and principal owner Lonnie (Bo) Pilgrim was inducted into the American Poultry Historical Society Hall of Fame during the International Poultry Exposition held in January in Atlanta.
Because Pilgrim was unable to attend the induction event, the Department of Poultry Science at Texas A&M University organized a celebratory luncheon in his honor. Hosting the June 8 gathering were the Texas A&M System, Texas AgriLife Research and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry attended the event and presented Pilgrim with a proclamation in recognition of his induction.
Dr. Nick Zimmerman, an Extension poultry specialist with the University of Maryland's Department of Animal and Avian Sciences, a representative of the APHS, gave Pilgrim a book on the history of the U.S. poultry industry.
Dr. John Carey, head of Texas A&M University's Department of Poultry Science, presented Pilgrim with a framed Benjamin Knox print.
Also attending were Texas A&M Regents James Wilson, Lupe Fraga, Phil Adams and Jim Schwertner; Texas A&M System Chancellor Dr. Michael McKinney; Texas A&M University President Dr. Bowen Loftin; Vice Chancellor and Dean Dr. Mark Hussey; and present and former executives from Pilgrim's Pride, industry leaders and friends of Pilgrim.
The company Pilgrim co-founded in 1946 as a small feed and seed store in Pittsburg, Texas, has grown to be one of the largest chicken producers in the U.S. and Mexico, with sales of more than $7 billion in 2009 and more than 41,000 employees, according to the Pilgrim's Pride web site.
Pilgrim was one of four selected as 2010 Hall of Fame members. Others included Donald Dalton, past president of the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association; Paul Siegel, professor emeritus of animal and poultry sciences at Virginia Tech University; Robert Sparboe, founder of Sparboe Farms Inc., one of the largest egg production and processing companies in the nation; and J. Paul Thaxton Jr., professor of poultry science at Mississippi State University and co-founder of the world's first biotechnology company dedicated to poultry.
The American Poultry Historical Society was founded in 1952 to preserve historical records and honor distinctive personal achievement in the poultry industry.
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