Cornell University Memorial Statement for Professor Edward Sewall Guthrie (December 27, 1880 — December 11, 1964)
https://hdl.handle.net/1813/18823
"The Eleventh of December, 1964, marked the passing of one of Cornell’s most distinguished professors and one of the true pioneers of America’s great dairy processing industry. Edward Sewall Guthrie, who joined the staff of the College of Agriculture in 1908 and who worked in his laboratory until a few days before his death, gave more than sixty years to study, research, and teaching in the dairy industry.
Born on a farm in Iowa and with a B.S. degree from Iowa State, Dr. Guthrie came to Cornell as a graduate student and instructor in buttermaking. He taught this and other courses in dairy processing to several generations of Cornellians both in the “winter course” and in the regular college program.
His contributions were many and lasting. His interest in teaching and research led him to help organize what is now the American Dairy Science Association, and he served in its highest offices. As one of the last two surviving founders of that Association, he was most highly honored by it. It is probable that he did not miss more than two meetings from the date the society was founded.
He helped organize the first student chapters of the ADSA and the first national dairy products judging contest. For many years he was coach of the highly successful dairy products judging teams of the University.
His Book of Butter was long the standard text in his field, and he was recognized as America’s foremost authority on cultured cream. He published several scores of papers on various phases of the dairy industry.
Professor Guthrie was probably best known in Ithaca for his many community activities. He served the Forest Home Chapel long and faithfully as treasurer, trustee, steward, and for 26 years, church school superintendent. Since 1932 he had been a member of the board of directors of the Reconstruction Home in Ithaca and for 15 years conducted Sunday morning Protestant services there.
Dr. Guthrie never retired in the sense that he gave up any of his work. He maintained his office and his laboratory after his retirement in 1948, and spent a part of almost every day at his beloved research. He often appeared in the dairy barn before the early morning milking in order to gather samples of milk from particular animals or samples taken under particular conditions.
Until his death he took an active interest in students and alumni. Former student visitors were sure to inquire first about Dr. Guthrie, and he was sure to recognize and remember those alumni he chanced to encounter on the campus or in his travels. So great was his interest that he took the time in his later years to collect the scattered records of former students and publish accurate and useful lists of their whereabouts and doings. The alumni responded at the time of his retirement by commissioning a portrait of him which now hangs in Stocking Hall.
No student or colleague called him “Ed.” Yet all knew the warmth, consideration, and humor of the man. Always dignified but never pompous, he was readily approached at any time with any problem.
In his long career in the dairy industry, countless people came to know and love Dr. Edward Sewall Guthrie. He has carved a deep niche in the history of the dairy industry, his community, and the University. He richly deserves to be remembered as a Christian gentleman, a fine teacher, and a friend."