Dr. H. O. “Harry” Kunkel
Dr. H. O. “Harry” Kunkel died September 15, 2009 in College Station. He was a Professor Emeritus in the Departments of Animal Science and Biochemistry and Biophysics and Dean Emeritus of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m., Thursday, September 17, at Hillier Funeral Home.
Services are scheduled for Friday, September 18, 2009 at 11 a.m. at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, 1200 Firefox Drive in College Station (located in the Foxfire Subdivision). Internment will follow at College Station Cemetery.
Dr. Kunkel served as Dean of the College of Agriculture from 1967 to 1988. He also served as Associate Director and Director of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station from 1962 to 1972.
Dr. Kunkel earned his bachelor’s degree in animal husbandry and his master’s degree in biochemistry and nutrition from Texas A&M University and his doctorate in biochemistry from Cornell University.
He taught courses in principles of animal nutrition, general biochemistry, biochemical genetics, enzymes, large animal nutrition, food and humanity and issues in animal agriculture. His early research interests focused on magnesium in animal nutrition, urinary calculi, ruminal development and carbohydrate metabolism and the basis for genetically variable growth in animals. He also studied the human nutrition-agriculture interface, the missions of science and education for agriculture and curricular reform.
Dr. Kunkel was involved in many national initiatives, including the National Curriculum Project in Ethics and Policy in Agriculture, the Social Science Agriculture Agenda Project, the USDA Integrated Curriculum Development Project and the Institute of Medicine Committee on Dietary Guidelines Implementation. Professional memberships included the American Society for Nutritional Sciences and the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society. He was a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American Society of Animal Science.
After his early graduation from A&M, Class of ’43, he went to serve in the U.S. Army in World War II in the Philippines and during the occupation of Japan. He continued to serve his country in the Army Reserves until he retired as Lieutenant Colonel in 1982.
Dr. Kunkel was preceded in death by his son, Geoffrey Kunkel, of College Station and his parents, Hugo and Matilda Kunkel, of Olney, Texas.
He is survived by his wife Beverly, of 48 years; daughters, Virginia Kunkel, of College Station and Sheryl Kunkel Stolte, of College Station; grandsons, Geoffrey Stolte, of McKinney, Texas and Zachary Stolte, of College Station.
The family requests that donations in honor of Dr. Kunkel be made to the Geoffrey and James Kunkel Memorial Scholarship Fund in the Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, in care of the Texas A&M Foundation.