Donation Benefits Animal Science Graduate Students

Earle Klosterman designed the OARDC beef lot in 1968 while serving as associate chair of Animal Science. Today, he and his wife, Anne, have established a fund to support graduate students who study beef cattle at OARDC. (Photo by Ken Chamberlain)

WOOSTER, Ohio -- A former faculty member of The Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences has established a new fund to support graduate students.

Earle W. Klosterman established the Earle and Ann Klosterman Endowed Graduate Award with a $200,000 gift to Ohio State’s Department of Animal Sciences. The annual distribution from this award will help support departmental graduate students conducting research with beef cattle at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC). OARDC is the research arm of the college.

Klosterman is native of South Dakota. He earned a bachelor’s degree from South Dakota State University in 1942 and a doctorate from Cornell University in 1946. His wife of 65 years, Ann, obtained a bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee and a master’s degree from Cornell University. Ann taught home economics at Wooster High School and the Wayne County Vocational School for a total of 23 years.

Earle held faculty positions at South Dakota State University and North Dakota State University before joining the faculty of the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center and The Ohio State University in 1952, where he conducted beef cattle research until his retirement in 1980. He served as associate chair of the Department of Animal Science from 1967 to 1980 and designed and oversaw the construction of the 400-head capacity OARDC Beef Center feedlot in 1968. 

He had more than 200 publications; his most recognized paper was published in 1971, titled “Beef Cattle Size for Maximum Efficiency.” His many contributions to the beef industry, the scientific community, and students at The Ohio State University leave a lasting legacy.

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Sarah Johnson
330-287-1321
johnson.4884@osu.edu