1994 Dairy Leadership Award

Dr. Robert T. Marshall, Columbia

Dr. Robert T. Marshall has been associated with the Missouri Dairy Industry all of his life. Born in 1932 on a farm in southwest Missouri, he entered the University of Missouri in 1950 and received his B.S. in Dairy Manufacturing in 1954. After three years as a pilot in the U.S. Air Force, he returned to the University in 1957, receiving his Masters in Dairy Microbiology in 1958 and his Doctorate in 1960. Dr. Marshall served as an instructor and Associate Professor in the Dairy Science Department, UMC from 1960 through 1967; as Associate Professor in Food Science and Nutrition from 1967-1970; and as Professor in Food Science and Nutrition from 1970-1989. Awarded the distinguished designation as Arbuckle Professor in the Food Science and Human Nutrition in 1989, Dr. Marshall holds this position at the present time.

Bob Marshall married Shirly Graham (also from southwest Missouri and a UMC Extension family) in 1953. They have four children; Scott, with Transgas Management, Inc., Houston, TX; Becky, a computer programmer, Boston, MA; Kathy, Juvenile Services, Columbia, MO; and Alan, a micro-computer specialist, UMC, Columbia, MO. The Marshalls are members of the First Baptist Church, Columbia, where Dr. Marshall serves as Deacon, Director of a Sunday School Department, and Chair of the Stewardship Committee. In addition to his full time duties as a professor, Bob has found time to work with youth groups associated with the dairy industry throughout the state and nation. His service as Chairman of the Dairy Products Judging Contest at the National FFA Contest held each fall in Kansas City earned him the Honorary American Farmer Degree in 1977 from this organization.

Dr. Marshall has a record equaled by few and surpassed by none in providing leadership and assistance to research, education, and service to the frozen desserts industry and food microbiology. He is co-recipient of a patented spectrophotometric method for simultaneously analyzing protein and fat content in milk (US Patent 4497898). He is author and/or co-author of some 120 technical publications relating to frozen dairy desserts and dairy microbiology. Perhaps his most readily recognized product by the public has been “Tiger Stripe” ice cream from the Arbuckle Ice Cream Parlor.

Dr. Marshall’s membership in professional and honorary societies, together with his participation in their activities and the awards they have bestowed upon him in the past 25 years, is further evidence of his outstanding leadership ability. These include:

  • Gamma Sigma Delta – Junior Faculty Award UMC 1968
  • Faculty UMC Alumni – Teaching Award 1968
  • Milk Industry Foundation – Teaching Award 1976
  • Dairy Research Foundation – Research Award 1977
  • National FFA Foundation – Honorary American Farmer Degree 1977
  • AMOCO – UMC Teaching Award 1985
  • International Association of Milk, Food, and Environmental Sanitarians – President, 1982-83, Trustee of IAMFES Foundation
  • Missouri Farmhouse Foundation – President 1985-86
  • American Dairy Science Association – Trustee, President 1983-84, Treasurer 1992-95; Trustee of ADSA Foundation
  • American Society for Microbiology – Member
  • American Public Health Association – Member & editor of Standard Methods for the Examination of Dairy Products, 1993
  • Missouri Dairy Fieldmens and Sanitarians Association – Member
  • Missouri Dairy Hall of Honors Foundation – Trustee
  • Editorial Board Journal of Dairy Science and Journal of Food Production
  • Sigma Xi – Member
  • Alpha Zeta – Member