r. Ivan Jones, professor emeritus of food science, was born a week before the Wright Brothers’ first flight in 1903. So, to honor his 100th birthday Dec. 10, the Food Science Department presented Jones a model of the Wrights’ airplane at its Christmas luncheon in Schaub Hall.

Jones, who now lives at Raleigh’s Springmoor, came to N.C. State College in 1930 as an associate horticulturist. In 1933, he initiated the N.C. State program in fruit and vegetable processing. Started at the request of a small progressive pickle packer, the program was expanded in 1935 through a cooperative arrangement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a partnership that continued for 25 years.

Jones was instrumental in enlarging the food preservation program of the Horticulture Department in 1940 by instituting studies and developing procedures for the dehydration of fruits and vegetables. The use of such procedures reduced the war-time demand for metal. He broadened the program in 1946 through development of facilities for applied research in the commercial processing of fruits and vegetables by canning and freezing.

In the mid-1940s, he established a laboratory and organized programs for teaching principles of food preservation.

He also assisted in developing Extension programs in the home and commercial preservation of fruits and vegetables. He became a professor of the Food Science Department in 1961, when the department was created.

After a distinguished career which included United Nations and other international consultation and membership in numerous honorary and professional organizations, Jones retired as professor emeritus in 1970.


-- Terri Leith