Artist: Othmar J. Hoffler (1893–1954)
Henry Herbert Kildee
KILDEE, HENRY HERBERT (1884–1973), inducted 1938
Born on a farm in Osage, Iowa, Henry Herbert Kildee received his bachelor’s degree at Iowa State College in 1908, the same year he was high individual in the Intercollegiate Livestock Judging Contest at the International Live Stock Exposition. He joined the faculty of his alma mater in 1909 and, the following year, was made head of dairy husbandry. In 1916, he went to the University of Minnesota to head dairy industries. After earning his master’s degree from Iowa State in 1917, however, Kildee returned to the ISC faculty as chairman of the animal husbandry department. Professor Kildee was named dean of agriculture in 1933, serving until he retired in 1949. The experiment station and extension activities were unified under his leadership. Kildee’s work to develop the True Type Holstein and set up type classifications for dairy led to the formation of the Dairy Shrine Club, which honored him with the first portrait hung in the Shrine.
Dean Kildee was uniquely qualified to judge all breeds of dairy and beef cattle, swine, and draft horses, and he judged every major show in the US and many abroad. He was a director of the International beginning in 1947, serving as president from 1958 to 1964, and then had a tenure as chairman after. He was president of the American Society of Animal Production in 1934. Awarded honorary degrees from the North Dakota State College and Iowa State, the latter also honored him with Kildee Hall, naming the animal science department’s building for him in 1965.
Source: Saddle & Sirloin Guidebook 2026, p. 120