Richard Rominger (July 1, 1927 – December 21, 2020) was a

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

politician who served as the 8th Deputy Secretary of Agriculture from 1993 to 2001 during the administration of

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

. Rominger previously served as the California Secretary of Food and Agriculture.

Early life and education

Born in

Woodland, California Woodland is a city in and the county seat of Yolo County, California, located approximately northwest of Sacramento, California, Sacramento, and is a part of the Sacramento metropolitan area. The population was 61,032 at the 2020 United States ...

and raised in

Winters, California Winters is a city in rural Yolo County, and the western Sacramento Valley, in northern California. The population of Winters was 6,624 as of the 2010 Census. It is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Yuba City, CA-NV Combined Statistical A ...

, Rominger attended his freshman year at

Sacramento Junior College Sacramento City College (SCC) is a Public college, public community college in Sacramento, California. SCC is part of the Los Rios Community College District and had an enrollment of 25,307 in 2009. It is accredited by the Accrediting Commission ...

then served 14 months in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He then attended the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

and graduated in 1949 with degrees in

agronomy Agronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants by agriculture for food, fuel, fiber, chemicals, recreation, or land conservation. Agronomy has come to include research of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and ...

and plant sciences. After graduation, Rominger returned to work on his four-generation family farm.

Career

In 1977, Governor Jerry Brown appointed Rominger to head the California Department of Food and Agriculture. He was confirmed by the

California State Senate The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature, the lower house being the California State Assembly. The State Senate convenes, along with the State Assembly, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, Cal ...

and served in the position until 1982. In 1993, Rominger was appointed by

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

Bill Clinton to serve as

chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the "C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if t ...

and Deputy Secretary of the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, ...

. He served in the position until 2001 (the entirety of Clinton's time in office), and returned to their 6,000-acre family farm in California. During his time at the USDA, Rominger advocated for a new pesticide ban as well as poultry product regulations, a new National Drought Emergency Commission, and the new National Organic Standards. Rominger also had responsibility for supervision of the USDA budget. Rominger was appointed to the Board of Regents of the University of California in 2004. He has also served on the California Roundtable on Agriculture and the Environment and as president of the board of the

American Farmland Trust American Farmland Trust is a nonprofit organization in the United States with a mission to protect farmland, promote environmentally sound farming practices, and keep farmers on the land. AFT is staffed by farmers, policy experts, researchers and ...

. Rominger was the chairman and shareholder at Marrone Bio Innovations, Inc., Oryzatech, Inc., and Ag Innovations Network, Inc. Richard was a founding member and the first president of the

Yolo County, California Yolo County (; Wintun: ''Yo-loy''), officially the County of Yolo, is a county located in the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 216,403. Its county seat is Woodland. Yolo County is incl ...

land trust Land trusts are nonprofit organizations which own and manage land, and sometimes waters. There are three common types of land trust, distinguished from one another by the ways in which they are legally structured and by the purposes for which th ...

. After his retirement from government service, Rominger was an advocate on issues related to droughts, land conservation, and the impact of climate change on agriculture. Richard Rominger died at the age of 93 in

Awards

In 1978, Rominger received the Jerry W. Fielder Memorial Award in recognition of his service to UCD. In 1989, he and his wife jointly received the Award of Distinction from the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Roninger received the Distinguished Service Award from the California Farm Bureau Federation in 1991 and was named Agriculturalist of Year and the 1992

California State Fair The California State Fair is the annual state fair for the state of California. The fair is held at Cal Expo in Sacramento, California. The Fair is a 17-day event showcasing California's industries, agriculture, and diversity of people. The CSF ...

. In 2016, Rominger was selected to receive the UC Davis Medal, the highest honor the university presents to an individual.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rominger, Richard Clinton administration cabinet members 20th-century American politicians People from Woodland, California Military personnel from California 20th-century American businesspeople 1927 births 2020 deaths University of California, Davis alumni United States Deputy Secretaries of Agriculture