Starker Chair in Private and Family Forestry

December 31, 1995

The Starker Chair in Private and Family Forestry was made possible by the 1995 gift of a 260-acre demonstration forest from the late Elizabeth Starker Cameron of Corvallis.

Ongoing revenues from the donated tract fund research and Extension outreach on issues of private forest management. Also, $1 million from the sale of timber from the land supported the renovation of OSU's Valley Library.

Cameron was the owner of Starker Forests, Inc., along with her two sons, Bond and Barte Starker. Now a fifth-generation family business known for its commitment to protecting the environment, the company owns and manages forestland in five counties.

The Starker family legacy at Oregon State began with Cameron's father-in-law, the late Thurman James "T. J." Starker, who was a graduate of OSU's first forestry class in 1910. T. J. Starker taught at the School of Forestry from 1922 to 1942 and played a major role in the acquisition of the school's first research forest. His son, the late Bruce Starker, grandsons Bond and Barte, and a number of great-grandchildren all earned forestry degrees at OSU.