DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

SECRETARIES

FORMER SECRETARIES

[photo, Wayne A. Cawley, Jr., Maryland Secretary of Agriculture] WAYNE A. CAWLEY, JR. (1923-2008)
Secretary of Agriculture, 1979-91

Secretary of Agriculture, 1979 to November 1, 1991. Retired November 1, 1991. Member, Governor's Executive Council, 1979-91; Governor's International Cabinet, 1988-91. Board of Regents, University of Maryland System, 1979-91.

Member, Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation, 1979-91; Maryland Food Center Authority, 1979-91; Scenic and Wild Rivers Review Board, 1979-91; State Soil Conservation Committee, 1979-91; Interdepartmental Advisory Committee for Minority Affairs, 1980-91; State Development Council, 1980-91. Chair, Governor's Task Force to Streamline State Government, 1981. Member, Emergency Management Advisory Council, 1981-91; State Use Industries Advisory Committee, 1981-91; Governor's Productivity Planning Committee, 1984-85; Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Commission, 1984-91; Governor's Council on the Chesapeake Bay, 1985-91; State Trade Policy Council, 1985-91; Mid-Atlantic Poultry Health Council, 1987-91; Governor's Commission on Growth in the Chesapeake Region, 1989-91; Executive Task Force to Study the Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation, 1991.

Born in Denton, Maryland, October 4, 1923. Attended Caroline High School, Denton, Maryland; Salisbury State Teachers College; Washington College, B.A. (economics), 1948. Attended University of Maryland School of Law. Served in 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, U.S. Army, (parachuted into France on D-Day, June 1944; participated in Operation Market Garden, The Netherlands, Sept. 1944, and Battle of the Bulge, Dec. 1944-Jan. 1945) in World War II with combat service in European Theater. Farmer for over thirty years; operated with sons a 1,000-acre grain farm, Cawley Farm, LLC, called "Controversie," on Eastern Shore. Former controller and vice-president, Denton National Bank, and director of Bank's Farm Department. Past president, Rotary. Past vice-president, Caroline County Farm Bureau. Leader, Tuckahoe 4-H Club. Treasurer, Denton Boy Scouts. President, Parent Teacher Association, Caroline High School. Member, Vocational School Committee and Adult Education Committee, Chesapeake College; Tri-County Crop Improvement Association. Past president, Southern Association of State Departments of Agriculture. Past president and secretary-treasurer, Southern U.S. Trade Association. Named Caroline County's "Outstanding Farmer" in 1974; State Administrator of the Year, 1990. Maryland Man of the Year, Progressive Farmer magazine, 1991. Widower; five children; ten grandchildren; four great-grandchildren. Died in Denton, Maryland, June 9, 2008.

To honor Mr. Cawley, the Department of Agriculture Building at 50 Harry S Truman Parkway, Annapolis, Maryland was designated the Wayne A. Cawley, Jr., Building by the Board of Public Works on October 23, 1991.

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