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Honorary doctorates to be conferred
on Larry Shehadey, Ernest Márquez

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By Shirley Melikian Armbruster

The California State University and California State University, Fresno will confer honorary doctoral degrees on Valley businessman Larry Shehadey and Fresno State alumnus Dr. Ernest D. Márquez during Commencement ceremonies May 25 at Bulldog Stadium.

Shehadey, patriarch of Producers Dairy, will receive the honorary doctorate degree in humane letters. Márquez, director of a research program for the National Institutes of Health, will receive the honorary doctorate degree in science.

Fresno State President John D. Welty said the two men have made an impact on Fresno, the Valley and the country.

"Larry Shehadey has achieved great business success, yet is best known locally for his half-century of civic commitment," said Welty. "He has made a unique contribution to the economy and the quality of life of Central California.

"Ernest Márquez is a fine example of how a student from a small Valley town (Tranquillity) can take the education he received at Fresno State and become a tremendous influence in his field," said Welty.

This is the 10th year honorary doctorates have been awarded by the CSU system and Fresno State. A campus committee composed of faculty and administrators considered nominees for the honor and recommended the candidates to Welty, who then made the recommendations to the CSU Board of Trustees.

Last year's conferee was Valley businessman William M. "Bill" Lyles.

Previous recipients include Paul O'Neill, who is now Secretary of the Treasury on President George W. Bush's Cabinet; Houston Mayor Lee P. Brown; Emmy-winning actor Edward James Olmos; and businessman Sid Craig, as well as local community leaders Robert Duncan, Hugo Morales, Vincent Petrucci, Elmer "Bud" Richter and Earl Smittcamp.

Márquez attended Tranquillity High School from 1953-57 and served as its student body president. Márquez earned a bachelor's degree in biology (1962) and a master's degree in microbiology (1968) from Fresno State, a Ph.D. in microbiology (1972) from the University of Southern California School of Medicine and was a postdoctoral fellow at UC San Diego.

He served in the Navy as a destroyer deck officer, reaching the rank of lieutenant commander.

Before joining the National Institutes of Health in 1990, Márquez was a faculty member and conducted research at The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine and worked in the biotechnology industry. He continues to serve as a graduate program lecturer at Johns Hopkins University.

Márquez lives in Montgomery Village, Md., and is chief of the Minority Biomedical Research Support Branch of the NIH's National Institute of General Medical Sciences. He manages a budget of more than $70 million a year with 130 programs throughout the country and in Puerto Rico and Guam.

Márquez received a prestigious 1999 NIH Director's Award "For outstanding contributions to the Division of Minority Opportunities in Research and leadership in the HIH Hispanic community." He also is the recipient of several quality awards and performance awards from the NIH.

Shehadey, a native of San Francisco, sold a successful soap business to Safeway in 1949 and bought a major interest in Producers Dairy in Fresno. Shehadey built Producers Dairy Foods into one of the largest independent family-owned milk producers in the United States.

Producers employs 350 people and provides a wide variety of dairy food products from Eureka to Santa Barbara. He became general manager in 1951. He developed a diversified farming operation that includes "Bar 20" dairies. Bar 20 uses no additives, hormones or steroids in their herds' feed, producing completely natural milk products.

Shehadey is known for his half-century of civic commitment in Fresno. He is a member of the California State University, Fresno Family Business Council, the Fresno Chamber of Commerce, the Police Activities League, the California Dairy Council and the Rotary Club of Fresno.

He is the recipient of several awards for community service, including the 1999 Leon S. Peters Award, which honors a business professional for devotion to improving life in Fresno and the Central Valley. He also received the lifetime achievement award from the Institute for Family Business in 1999.

A longtime booster of Fresno athletics, he has been inducted into the Fresno Athletic Hall of Fame. Shehadey has helped numerous youth programs, including Boy Scouts, Boys & Girls Club, Big Brothers/Big Sisters and the YMCA.

Back to University Journal, 05/20/02 Issue