Robert T. Marshall

Robert (Bob) T. Marshall retired from the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources food science department at the University of Missouri Jan. 1, 2000. Bob joined MU’s dairy department faculty in 1960 and moved to the Department of Food Science and Nutrition in 1967.

Through the years he has been responsible for teaching dairy foods and food technology courses and for coaching the dairy products evaluation team.

At the beginning of his academic career Bob’s research centered on bovine mastitis and milk quality. He and his graduate students spent from 1967 to 1985 studying heat stable enzymes of foodborne bacteria that grow in the cold. He cooperated with U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists in studies of cleaning and sanitizing milk plant equipment as well as surfaces of meats.

In the 1980s his research interests moved to the acceleration of cheese ripening and this gave way to ice cream research. In 1989 he became the Arbuckle Professor of Food Science and he revised the fifth edition of Ice Cream, a major reference text. He is also coauthor of The Science of Providing Milk for Man and edited the 16th edition of Standard Methods for the Examination of Dairy Products.

Bob is widely known on campus and in Columbia as the creator of the Tiger Stripe Ice Cream recipe.

The MU scientist has received recognition for outstanding achievements from the American Dairy Science Association, the International Association of Milk, Food and Environmental Sanitarians, and the Missouri Alumni Association. He also was awarded MU’s AMOCO Teaching Award and the Future Farmers of America named him Honorary American Farmer.

He has been president of both the American Dairy Science Association and the International Association of Milk, Food and Environmental Sanitarians. In addition he is a member of the American Public Health Association; Institute of Food Technologists; Missouri Milk, Food and Environmental Health Association; and the Missouri Dairy Products Association.

The Missouri Dairy Products Association nominated Bob for the Meritorious Service Award and noted that “we are pleased and proud to nominate a person who has done so much to promote, support, and service the Missouri dairy industry.”

At MU he has served on the faculty council, chaired the campus promotion and tenure committee, and served on committees for two dean searches and a MU vice chancellor search.

Bob became program leader of food science in 1994 and chair of food science in 1999. During his MU career he advised many doctoral and master’s degree candidates and ended his career as director of both undergraduate and graduate studies.

Bob was born at Halltown in 1932 and completed BS, MS, and PhD degrees at MU in 1954, 1958, and 1960. He married Shirley Graham at Mt. Vernon in 1953 and they have four children-Alan Marshall and Kathy Lloyd, both living in Columbia; Scott Marshall, Houston, Tex.; and Becky Marshall, Lynn, Mass.

He was a pilot in the U.S. Air Force and served from 1954 to 1957. The Marshalls live in Columbia, MO.