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Just when Luetkemeier’s future began to take shape, Uncle Sam came calling. Luetkemeier was sent on a Navy ship to the Pacific, where he served during World War II. “I was on a landing barge,” he says. “I was there when they raised the flag at Iwo Jima.”
After returning home in 1946, Luetkemeier picked up where he left off in his graduate studies. More research projects followed—“I did the first irrigation on corn in Indiana,” he says—culminating in Luetkemeier receiving a master’s degree in 1949.
That same year Purdue opened the Agronomy Farm as part of its plan to replace smaller demonstration farms with larger agricultural research centers. Luetkemeier, at the right place at the right time again, applied for the superintendent’s position.
“I liked research, and my research was mainly in soil,” he says. “But I didn’t want to be cooped up in a building all day.”
Small town boy does good
Luetkemeier’s passion for agricultural research and his love of field tests won over the search committee. At age 29 the simple farm boy who knew nothing about Purdue a dozen years earlier took over the top job at the university’s leading research station.
“I started with a staff of three men and a couple of horses named Kate and Jane,” Luetkemeier says. “I earned $3,600 that first year.”
Over the next nearly four decades, Luetkemeier oversaw research that contributed to dramatically higher crop yields, better farming technology and the advent of genetic modification.
Because of Luetkemeier’s leadership and vision, ACRE is home to upwards of 175 field experiments each year, conducted by more than 50 Purdue and U.S. Department of Agriculture researchers.
“Ozzie allowed the old agronomy farm to expand to what it is today,” says Larry Svajgr, executive director of the Indiana Crop Improvement Association. “He was a consummate professional and a long-range thinker. He had the ability to work with a wide range of people with a wide range of personalities.
“Ozzie wasn’t ostentatious, but he was just rock solid. He’s always been interested in learning. I see him from time to time at agricultural events, and he’s there just to be tuned in to what’s going on in the industry.”
“Agriculture is still very close to me,” Luetkemeier says. “I’m very interested in what farmers are doing. I like helping farmers, and I think we’re put on this earth to help people.”
Few in Purdue Agriculture have lent as big a helping hand as Luetkemeier.
Contact Steve Leer at sleer@purdue.edu
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