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Kenneth Bader, longtime head of the American Soybean Association, died Saturday in Chesterfield, Missouri. He was 90.
During his 16 years leading the ASA from 1976 to 1992, the group significantly expanded its international footprint from two to 12 overseas offices and started soy feeding trials in Southeast Asia. His work also led to the creation of the national soy checkoff and United Soybean Board.
The USB presented Bader with the inaugural Tom Oswald Legacy Award at the 2023 Commodity Classic.
“Dr. Bader’s contributions to the checkoff and U.S. soybean industry are monumental. He exemplifies Tom’s legacy, and we all see the results of his relentless dedication and leadership to move research and promotion investments forward,” Meagan Kaiser, USB chair from Missouri, said the time. “Dr. Bader left the soybean industry ‘better-er.’ We are stronger because of his work.”
Before he went to ASA, Bader was a professor and dean of students at The Ohio State University and vice chancellor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He received his bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees from The Ohio State University.
In a 2020 article looking back at ASA’s 100-year history, Bader said he received a call from a headhunter in 1976 who “asked if I’d be interested in leading a small, midwestern agriculture organization with international programs. I told him I was very happy where I was but would be interested in learning more. That started the ball rolling to me becoming executive director of the American Soybean Association.”
In addition to opening new offices overseas, Bader said ASA set up a nursery facility in Central America to conduct soybean research during the winter.
A celebration of Bader’s life will take place on Dec. 15 at 2 p.m. in the Friendship Village Chapel in Chesterfield.
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