Obituary: Eugene Donefer
Eugene Donefer
Professor Emeritus in Animal Science
Passed away on June 10th.
Upon his arrival at Macdonald in 1957, Gene became part of Professor Earle Crampton’s team investigating questions relating to the nutritive evaluation of forages for ruminants. His research later expanded to methods of improving the nutritive value of low-quality forages/roughages (straw, wood). This led to projects in the Caribbean over a 17-year period (1967-1981) designed to demonstrate the use of sugarcane and its by-products as feedstuff for cattle and sheep. In 1976, he became full-time Director of the Sugarcane Feeds Project, located in Trinidad, based on a $5 million grant from the Canadian Government, to be executed by McGill University. At Macdonald, he was one of four founding professors who developed the course in International Agriculture and established Tropical Agriculture field tours to Cuba. These initiatives resulted in major and minor programs dedicated to the advancement of studies and research in International Agriculture. The final portion of Professor Donefer's McGill tenure was his appointment in 1985 as Director of the office of McGill International, part of the Graduate Faculty and acting to encourage and coordinate McGill’s overseas development projects. He maintained this position until his retirement in 1992.
After moving to Kingston, Ontario, Professor Donefer held the position of Auxilary Professor at Queens University, where during a 4-year period he developed and presented a course in Global Food Security in the School of Environmental Sciences.
He will be missed.