MacRae, Herbert Farquhar

Herbert Farquhar MacRae was Principal of Nova Scotia School of Agriculture from 1972-1989 and the namesake of Dalhousie's Agricultural Campus library. Born on 30 March 1926 in Middle River, Nova Scotia, he graduated from the Nova Scotia Teachers College in 1948, earning a Superior First-Class Teaching License. He taught high school for five years and then studied at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College, graduating at the top of his class and receiving a scholarship at Macdonald College, McGill University. He earned his BSc in 1950, MSc in 1956, and his DPhil in Agricultural Chemistry in 1960. MacRae worked for two years with the Food and Drug Directorate, Health and Welfare Canada, before returning to Macdonald College to teach for twelve years, ending up as professor and chair of the Department of Animal Science.

In 1972 he returned to Nova Scotia as Principal of the Nova Scotia Agricultural College, where he remained for the next 17 years, providing leadership to the agri-food industry in numerous capacities, including as a founding member and later Chairman of the Canadian Agricultural Research Council (CARC). He also served as President of the Association of Faculties of Agriculture in Canada; Chairman of the Atlantic Provinces Agricultural Services Coordinating Committee; Chairman of the Association of Deans of the Faculties of Agriculture in Canada; and Executive Director, Confederation of Canadian Faculties of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine. MacRae received an Honorary Doctorate from McGill in 1987, was elected a Fellow of the Agricultural Institute of Canada in 1988, and was named to the Order of Canada in 1992. On his retirement from NSAC in 1989, the College library was renamed in his honour. He died in 2002 in Truro, Nova Scotia.