Former AIB Chief Dies

William J Hoover, retired president of AIB International, died on July 6 in Colorado Springs following a brief illness. He was 82.

A native of Champaign, Illinois, Dr Hoover spent most of his career in Manhattan, Kansas., first at Kansas State University and then at AIB.

He attended the University of Illinois and was awarded BSc., MSc. and PhD degrees, majoring in food technology with minors in business administration and mathematical statistics.

As president of AIB (then known as the American Institute of Baking), Dr. Hoover helped facilitate the move of the institution in 1977 to Manhattan from Chicago. A new Manhattan facility was opened in 1978. In recognition of his contribution to the organization, the AIB campus was named the William J. Hoover campus in 1995.

The move to Manhattan was credited with creating synergies with KSU as well as the Grain Marketing and Production Research Centre of the US Department of Agriculture.

Largely for his work at AIB, Dr Hoover was elected in 2007 to the Baking Hall of Fame.

AIB International is a corporation founded by the North American wholesale and retail baking industries in 1919 as a technology transfer centre for bakers and food processors. Although AIB’s history has been traditionally linked with North American wholesale and retail baking, the Institute currently serves many segments of the food processing, distribution, foodservice, and retail industries worldwide.