Obituary: Edgar A. Hyer

Edgar A. Hyer

1916 ~ 2007

Edgar A. Hyer passed away peacefully at the age of 91 on Sept. 10, 2007 after living a productive long life.

Edgar was born July 12, 1916 to Andrew William Hyer and Elaine Hillyard Hyer at Lewiston, Utah where he was also raised in a big network of Utah farmers. Edgar married Arlene Allen of Cove, Utah Sept. 6, 1940 in the Salt Lake Temple. They parented two children Warren and Elaine. Arlene passed away June 8, 1995 in San Luis Obispo where they had lived for 44 years. Edgar has lived with his daughter Elaine in Utah since that time.

Mr. Hyer graduated from Utah State College with BS and MS degrees. During World War II he interrupted his education to join the US Army Signal Service GHQ/PAC and served in Australia, New Guinea and the Philippines. After the war he completed his Ph.D degree from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. His degrees were in Agricultural Economics. Edgar received a PHI KAPPA PHI scholarship and an ALPHA KAPPA PSI award.

After teaching at Oregon State College in Corvallis, Oregon for three years he began his career at Cal Poly University, San Luis Obispo, CA for 31 years. During that time he took advanced training at Iowa State College, which enabled linear programming to be incorporated into the Cal Poly's Ag program. Dr. Hyer has served as an expert witness in complex Agricultural litigation. He also performed analysis for numerous AG businesses.

Dr. Hyer became Head of the Farm Management Department at Cal Poly in its infancy and watched it grow to approximately 900 students, the largest Farm Management Department in the nation. Upon retirement Dr. Hyer was honored at Cal Poly by the former Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz. At that time "The Hyer Ag Scholarship Fund" was established and has grown to a generous amount to benefit the college.

In addition to his professional accomplishments Edgar was actively involved in the SLO community and church activities including leadership positions in the LDS church and chairman of Boy Scouts of America. He is known for his generosity for those in need and his tireless work ethics.

Survived by his son Warren A.

(Va Lynn) Hyer of Yorba Linda, CA; and daughter, Elaine Bell of Salt Lake City, UT; and brothers Maurice Hyer and Earl Hyer, his sisters Louise Drury and Wilma Spence; 13 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held Sat. September 15, 2007 at 2 p.m. in the Larkin Sunset Gardens Mortuary Chapel, 1950 East 10600 South, Sandy, Utah, where a visitation will be one hour prior to the service. Dedication of the grave will follow the funeral at the Larkin Sunset Gardens Cemetery.