Richard Rominger (July 1, 1927 – December 21, 2020) was an American politician who served as the eighth 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 and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

. 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, United States. Located approximately northwest of Sacramento, it is a part of the Sacramento metropolitan area. The population continues to grow every year, with a growth ra ...

to Albert H. Rominger and Anne Violet Ehrhardt Rominger and raised in

Winters, California Winters is a city in rural Yolo County, and the western Sacramento Valley, in northern California, United States. Winters has a 2024 population of 7,860. Winters is currently growing at a rate of 2.16% annually and its population has increased ...

, Rominger attended his freshman year at Sacramento Junior College then served 14 months in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He then attended the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

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. ...

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. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

Bill Clinton to serve as

chief operating officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the C ...

and Deputy Secretary of the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and producti ...

. 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. 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 (; Wintuan languages, Wintun: ''Yo-loy''), officially the County of Yolo, is a County (United States), county located in the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Yolo County was one of the original counties of Californi ...

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 E. 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 Evelyne Rowe Rominger jointly received the Award of Distinction from the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Rominger 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. 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 Secretaries of agriculture of the United States University of California, Davis alumni United States deputy secretaries of agriculture