Edward William Custer ('47, M.S. '65) of Starkville, retired professor of dairy science at Mississippi State, died Dec. 24, 1996. He was 77.
Custer received a bachelor's degree in 1947 and a master's in 1965, both from Mississippi State. He joined the staff of the Department of Dairy Science in 1947 as manager of the dairy manufacturing plant.
Under his guidance, production of the facility's famed Edam cheese rose from 4,400 units in 1970 to 80,000 in 1984.
Custer received many honors in his career, including the Honors Award from the Southern Division of the American Dairy Science Association, the American Dairy Science Association's Kraftco Teaching Award, the Mississippi State Alumni Association's Teaching Award, and an outstanding teaching award from the university chapter of Gamma Sigma Delta.
Custer taught most of the courses in dairy manufacturing, conducted extensive research, and was a consultant for the national dairy industry. His student judging teams won first place 12 times in Southern Regional Dairy Products contests.
He retired in 1985 following a 38-year career with the university.
This World Wide Web version of Alumnus was marked up by Chris Brown <brownc@ur.msstate.edu>
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