The Agricultural Alumni Association honored its own at its 45th annual awards banquet in Athens Sept. 24. Members are graduates of the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

The late John William Firor Sr. was inducted into the Agricultural Hall of Fame. Firor organized and chaired the UGA Department of Agricultural Economics in 1929. He retired in 1950.

The Award of Excellence honored Wilbur Mull, Lawrence Risse and Ed Brown, all of Athens. This new award recognizes alumni who excelled in their field.

Estes Reynolds, a UGA Extension Service food scientist in Athens, received the Outstanding Faculty Award.

Firor joins an elite membership in the Ag Hall of Fame. The honor recognizes his contributions to Georgia agriculture.

Firor came to Georgia in 1912 with a horticulture degree from the Maryland Agriculture College. He was known as a gifted teacher who greatly influenced Georgia agriculture through his students. Firor died in 1956.

The late D.W. Brooks, founder of Gold Kist, supported Firor's nomination. Brooks wrote, "If there is one person that we have failed to name to the Agricultural Hall of Fame who certainly needs to be included, it's John William Firor Sr. I personally feel that Professor Firor is one of the great teachers we have had at the University of Georgia."

Wilbur C. Mull is a national leader in the Green Industry. He founded Classic Groundcovers, Inc., in Athens in 1963. It has become the largest business of its kind, a wholesale nursery specializing in groundcover-only plants.

The Athens Area Chamber of Commerce selected Mull as the Small Business Person of the Year in 1999. Mull received two degrees from UGA in agricultural economics.

Lawrence Risse conducted research around the world for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He studied handling, packaging and transportation of fruits and vegetables.

Risse was the research leader with the European Market Research Center in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. He retired in 1994 and manages his beef farm in Oconee County. His UGA degrees are in animal science and ag economics.

Ed Brown coordinates the state extension program in plant pathology. He is a respected expert in turf grass, forestry and shade trees.

Brown has educated more than 500,000 people on disease control and diagnostics. He helped develop the internationally recognized Georgia Digital Diagnostics project. He holds three degrees in plant pathology from UGA.

Estes Reynolds coordinates the outreach program for the Department of Food Science and Technology and the Food Process Research and Development Laboratory. He has developed curriculums for the food industry.

Reynolds has worked with processors to produce specialty foods and supply technical knowledge. He has his doctorate in food science from UGA.