David William Brooks (September 11, 1901 – August 5, 1999) was an American farmer and businessman. Born in

Royston, Georgia Royston is a city in Franklin, Hart, and Madison counties in the U.S. state of Georgia. The population was 2,649 at the 2020 census. History A post office called Royston has been in operation since 1878. The community was named after W.A. Roy ...

, Brooks enrolled at the age of 16 at the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

(UGA) and graduated with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

in Agriculture (1922) and a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

in Agriculture (1924). While working on his Masters, Brooks also taught

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 ...

at UGA as an instructor. He started his first farm cooperative, Georgia Cotton Growers Cooperative Association, in

921 __NOTOC__ Year 921 ( CMXXI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * March – Battle of Pegae: Bulgarian forces under '' kavhan'' (first minister) Theodore Sigritsa defeat ...

while still at UGA. When this initial cooperative failed in 1933, Brooks started a new one under the name Georgia Cotton Producers Association. The name was changed to Cotton Producers Association (CPA) the following year and was eventually renamed

Gold Kist Gold Kist was a large chicken producing company in the southern United States. It was founded in 1933 by D.W. Brooks, a University of Georgia agronomy instructor as the Cotton Producers Association, a cooperative to help farmers in Carrollton, ...

in 1974. Brooks retired as Chairman of the Board of Gold Kist and was awarded the title of Chairman

emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

. Brooks also founded several insurance companies that served the farming communities, Cotton Farmers Mutual Insurance Association (1941) and Cotton States Life and Health (1955) On the UGA campus, a faculty award in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, a road and pedestrian mall are named in honor of Brooks.

References

D.W. Brooks Collection at the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and StudiesNew Georgia Encyclopedia entry for Gold Kist
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks, D.W. 1901 births 1999 deaths American cooperative organizers University of Georgia alumni People from Royston, Georgia 20th-century American businesspeople