Peter E. Hildebrand's Obituary
Dr. Peter E. Hildebrand, age 84, of Gainesville passed away on December 26, 2016. He was born on September 27, 1932 to Ann C. Hildebrand, RN, and Paul R. Hildebrand, MD, in the small agricultural community of Brush, Colorado. In his younger years he spent most of his time on farms and with horses, seeing firsthand the transition from horse-drawn farm technology to tractors. He stayed focused on agriculture with degrees in Animal Production and Agricultural Economics from Colorado State University and a Ph.D. in 1959 from Michigan State University. Following two years teaching at Texas A & M University and two more at Colorado State, he spent 15 years living and working abroad.
For two and a half years he was first Chief Economist then Chief of Planning for two million acre irrigation reclamation projects in the Punjab of Pakistan followed by a year working in the American Embassy in Bogota, Colombia. He spent four more years working for the University of Nebraska mission in Colombia developing an agricultural economics department for the national agricultural research and extension institute of that country, ICA. The University of Florida hired him to create an agricultural economics department for CENTA, the agricultural research and extension institute of El Salvador. Two years in this position, he was instrumental in developing the multiple cropping technologies oriented toward the small farmers of that country, an effort that called upon his experience in agronomy as well as farm-level economics. In 1974 The Rockefeller Foundation hired him to create a rural socioeconomics department for ICTA, the agricultural research institute of Guatemala that had a focus on the small and medium farmers of that country. During his five years there he developed much of the farming systems methodology that was to become widespread globally.
On sabbatical leave from The Rockefeller Foundation at the University of Florida in 1980, the vice president in IFAS challenged him to stay at the university and create what he called a world class farming systems program, a challenge he took. He and Chris Andrew, then assistant director of International Programs, were successful in obtaining a $7 million grant from USAID to create a global training program in farming systems research and extension methods. Dr. Hildebrand was the founding president of the International Farming Systems Association.
Dr. Hildebrand, Professor Emeritus of Food and Resource Economics, Professor Emeritus of Interdisciplinary Ecology, and Director Emeritus of International Programs in IFAS, was major professor for 27 master’s degree students, and 17 PhD students. In addition he served on the supervisory committee of 93 other MS degree students and 77 PhD degree students. He was named one of 60 North Americans who have done the most for agriculture in the hemisphere by the InterAmerican Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture at their 60th anniversary in 2003 in Washington, D.C. and was twice nominated for the World Food Prize in 1998 and 1999. Besides Pakistan, Colombia, El Salvador and Guatemala where he lived, he had professional activities in Botswana, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Malawi, Morocco, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, South Africa, and Tanzania in Africa; China and Indonesia in Asia; England, France, Portugal, and the Netherlands in Europe; and Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Venezuela in Latin America and the Caribbean.
He is survived by his daughter Annie Hildebrand Hughes, her husband Michael, and his grandchildren, Henry and Hayden (Gainesville, FL), as well as his brother Dr. Jan Hildebrand (Cañon City, CO) and many loving family members. His wife, Maria, died unexpectedly in November 2012.
A celebration of Dr. Hildebrand’s life will be held Saturday, February 11, 2017 at 10:00 a.m. in the chapel of WILLIAMS-THOMAS FUNERAL HOME WESTAREA with a reception to follow. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the University of Florida Foundation with “Peter E. and Maria E. Hildebrand Scholarship Fund” in the memo line. Donations can be mailed to UF College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Office of Advancement, 2008 Turlington Hall, P.O. Box 117300, Gainesville, FL 32611. Online donations will be available in the near future.
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