President Joseph I. Castro ordered Fresno State’s national and state flags to be posted at half-staff on Wednesday, Aug. 5, in honor of university friend and legendary agricultural leader John Leroy Woolf Jr., who died on July 28 at the age of 102. This is the date of a private family funeral service for Mr. Woolf, who went by Jack.
Mr. Woolf served in the U.S. Army, where he landed on Omaha Beach during the D-Day Normandy invasion of Europe. After the war, he built a career in farming on the Valley’s west side, first with Giffen Inc. for more than 30 years, later with his own Woolf Farming Company.
Fresno State’s Ag One Foundation recognized Woolf’s accomplishments by naming him the 2006 Community Salute honoree. He received an honorary doctorate from Fresno State in 2009.
Scholarships from a $250,000 endowment in Woolf’s name support Fresno State students working with water technology and agricultural business.
