DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

SECRETARIES

FORMER SECRETARIES

Lewis R. Riley, Secretary of Agriculture, February 2003. Photo by Richard Lippenholz.

Secretary of Agriculture, March 10, 2003 to January 31, 2007. Acting Secretary of Agriculture, January 22 to March 10, 2003. Chair, Task Force on the Marketing of Grain and Other Agricultural Products, 2003. Member, Task Force to Study the Economic Development of the Maryland Seafood and Aquaculture Industries, 2003-04; Advisory Committee on the Management and Protection of the State's Water Resources, 2003-04; Task Force to Study the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation, 2003-05. Member, Board of Regents, University System of Maryland, 2003-07; Governor's Executive Council, 2003-07; Governor's Council on the Chesapeake Bay (Governor's Chesapeake Bay Cabinet), 2003-07; Governor's Subcabinet for International Affairs, 2003-07; Smart Growth Subcabinet, 2003-07; Maryland Agricultural Education and Rural Development Assistance Board, 2003-07; Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation, 2003-07; Critical Area Commission for the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays, 2003-07; State Children's Environmental Health and Protection Advisory Council, 2003-07; Maryland Food Center Authority, 2003-07; Maryland Horse Industry Board, 2003-07; Mid-Atlantic Poultry Health Council, 2003-07; Governor's Pesticide Council, 2003; Pesticide Advisory Committee, 2003-07; Poultry Issues Action Team, 2003; Rural Legacy Board, 2003-07; Rural Maryland Council, 2003-07; Seafood Marketing Advisory Commission, 2003-07; Scenic and Wild Rivers Review Board, 2003-07; State Soil Conservation Committee, 2003-07. Co-Chair, Interagency Nutrient Reduction Oversight Committee, 2003-07. Board of Directors, Maryland Agricultural and Resource-Based Industry Development Corporation, 2004-07. Member, Bay Restoration Fund Advisory Committee, 2004-07. Chair, Renewable Fuels Incentive Board, 2005-07; Governor's Intergovernmental Commission for Agriculture, 2006-07. Member, Maryland Pandemic Influenza Coordinating Committee, 2006-07.

Member, County Council, Wicomico County, 1966-78 (president, 1971-74; vice-president, four years). Member, Recreation Commission, Wicomico County.

Member, House of Delegates, 1979-87. Minority Whip, 1982-87. Member, Environmental Matters Committee; Rules and Executive Nominations Committee, 1982-87; Ways and Means Committee; Legislative Policy Committee, 1982-87.

Member, Citizens Advisory Board for Holly Center, 1979-89; Delmarva Advisory Council, 1979-97 (1st vice-president, 1993); Mosquito Control Committee, 1982-93; Governor's Task Force on State Support for Volunteer Fire, Rescue and Ambulance Companies, 1983.

Member, State Senate, 1987-92. Member, Finance Committee, 1987-89; Budget and Taxation Committee, 1990-92; Executive Nominations Committee, 1990-92; Joint Committee on Federal Relations, 1989; Joint Committee on Chesapeake Bay Critical Areas, 1990-02; Joint Committee on Investigation.

Member, Comprehensive Trauma Rehabilitation Services Coordinating Council, 1987-88; Solid Waste Disposal Task Force, 1987-88; Governor's Work Group on Acid Deposition, 1988-89; Aquaculture Advisory Committee, 1988-92; Governor's Committee to Review State Policy for Funding Maryland's Chesapeake Fisheries, 1989-90; Commission to Save the Lighthouses, 1989-92; Governor's Pesticide Council, 1990-92.

Born in Parsonsburg, Maryland, February 19, 1935. Graduate of Wicomico Senior High School, Salisbury, Maryland. Farmer; poultryman; businessman. President, Beaver Run Farms, Inc., a family farm corporation operated with his son, producing grain, swine, cattle, and poultry. President, Maryland Association of Counties, 1973. Delegate to Republican Party National Convention, 1988. Board of Directors, Delmarva Poultry Industry. Director, Farmers and Planters Company. Member, Building Fund Board, Peninsula Regional Medical Center, 2005-. Member (50 years) and past president, Parsonsburg Volunteer Fire Department. Member, Wicomico County Farm Bureau. Former member, Advisory Board, First National Bank. Board of Directors, Wicomico Nursing Home; Wicomico Unit, Cancer Society. Board of Trustees, Peninsula General Hospital Medical Center. American Farm Degree, 1956. Wicomico Outstanding Young Farmer, 1961. Man of the Year, Maryland Grain Producers, 1996. Distinguished Citizen Award, Delmarva Poultry Industry, 1997. Friend of the Industry, Maryland Egg Council, 2003. Married; three children; five grandchildren; two great-grandchildren.

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