Lund Clemson legacy lives on with $1.25 million endowed chair in agricultural science

CLEMSON — October 10, 2011 – A new $1.25 million Carl McHenry Lund Endowed Chair in Agricultural Science at Clemson University continues a legacy for excellence in agricultural innovation that Carl Lund and his wife, Mary, began more than two decades ago.

Photo at right: The Lund family, from left to right: Christina Lund Davis, Dr. Carl Mickey Lund Jr., Carl Lund III, Jens Lund, Scarlett Lund and Mary Lund (seated), the widow of Card Lund Sr., who is shown in the portrait.   image by: Patrick Wright

In 1987, the Lunds created the Lund Professor of the Year Award Endowment to honor an outstanding professor in the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences. It was the Lunds’ dream to establish a permanent endowed chair position to attract an individual of national scholarly reputation, research achievement and teaching excellence.

Today, son Carl M. Lund Jr., M.D.; his wife, Scarlett; and Mary Lund have made this dream a reality. Carl Lund Sr. died in 2002, yet his memory will echo for generations for the faculty and students who will benefit from this gift to the future of agriculture. The professor award will continue along with the new endowed chair.

Part of Clemson’s The Will to Lead capital campaign to raise $600 million to support students and faculty with scholarships, professorships, facilities, technology and enhanced learning opportunities, this gift is being made through an irrevocable charitable remainder trust.

In announcing the gift, Clemson President James F. Barker said, “We are dedicated to pushing forward the frontiers of science and education in agriculture, forestry, natural resources and life sciences. Clemson agriculture has always been about honoring the past while looking to the future. When the time comes, we will choose a world-class scholar to occupy the Lund chair and to advance Clemson’s reputation as a leader in agricultural sciences.”

Lund Jr. said, “My father had the vision to recognize that big tractors were the wave of the future for agribusiness, and so he pioneered the development of a tractor for large-scale farming at Ford Motor Co. to make Ford competitive with John Deere, Allis Chalmers and others. The Ford Tractor 9000 series was his crowning achievement.

“The challenges to agriculture today are greater than ever, he said. The Lund Endowed Chair in Agricultural Science has been established to ensure that the best minds are working at Clemson University to conduct research and educate students to meet the agricultural needs of the future.”

Carl Lund Sr. was born in Wisconsin in 1921 and grew up in Kansas. He joined the 35th National Guard Division in Nebraska one year before Pearl Harbor. In 1942 he went to Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Ga., and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Infantry Division at Fort Jackson. He met Mary at a church dance in Columbia and they were married in 1943. After serving the military in Italy during World War II, earning a Bronze Star, he returned home in 1945.

Lund came to Clemson College after a 1946 visit with then-President Robert “Sarge” Poole, who was transforming the college after the war. He graduated in two years and three months with honors in agricultural engineering. After four years with farm equipment manufacturer J.I. Case, he returned to Clemson to teach agricultural engineering and earn a Master of Science degree. In 1955, he accepted a position with Ford Motor Co.’s tractor and farm implement division, where he championed the Ford Tractor 9000 series.

In 1977 Lund retired and returned to the family farm near Pendleton, where he remained active in several organizations and pursued another dream of being a farmer. He managed the clearing of 100 acres and the building of a home where he lived with Mary until his death in 2002.

Mary still lives on the Lund family farm near Pendleton. Her husband’s career paralleled a time of a dramatic transformation and technological revolution in agriculture and she is working on a book about it. She has received the South Carolina Order of the Palmetto; and as a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, she helped to find the names of 3,700 Confederate soldiers who were buried in unmarked graves.

Lund Jr. (Clemson ’68) retired from medical practice in June. He and his wife manage a 103-acre farm in Williamston. Scarlett really manages it,” he said with a laugh. They have reforested nearly 20 acres and have other timber for commercial harvest. They also have a small herd of cattle.

“Over time, farmers have saved more lives than physicians,” he said, “and as a physician, I can say that.

”Civilization began with the cultivation of crops, he said. Written language, mathematics, law and science all began when people developed permanent settlements and ceased to be hunter-gatherers. Agriculture is the foundation of civilization and will always remain so. Nothing is more important.”

A plaque on the lobby wall of the office building where Carl Lund worked at Ford reads: “He who serves agriculture serves all mankind.” That is what he believed in and to that he dedicated his life.

Lund Jr. and three grandchildren are Clemson graduates. His great grandfather, John Randolph Jeffries, was on the first board of trustees of Clemson Agricultural College.