Dr. Harry Karle was a leader as a student, faculty and staff member for the campus farm, plant science and viticulture programs. He was Fresno State's first graduate with a viticulture-related degree in 1950 and continued to be an avid supporter of its agricultural programs and students for 75 years until his death on April 9 at the age of 94.

The Sanger native returned to campus in 1951 as its first vineyard foreman, then left in 1956 to start his postgraduate and doctoral plant science degrees at the University of California, Davis. He returned to Fresno State to become a plant science faculty member in 1962, and served as its department chair from 1969 until 1986.

In 1986, he assumed the position of assistant dean of farm and mechanized agriculture, and was elevated to associate dean in 1987 before his retirement in September 1991.

As the campus farm manager, he welcomed the addition of the internationally-respected Center for Irrigation Technology, which began in 1980. He was also one of the founders of the Fresno State Ag One Foundation, which has raised nearly $24 million in endowed scholarships since its start in 1979.

Read more about his legacy in a Jordan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology story (that includes a link to a Fresno State Ag One Foundation fund in his honor).