Gary Krause

Gary Fredrick Krause died June 16, 2015, at home. A memorial service and celebration of his life will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 27 at Trinity Presbyterian Church, 1600 W. Rollins Road.

Gary was born in Waverly, Kansas to Fred and Melba Krause on January 29, 1934. He was raised on the Krause homestead farm, and was active in the "Best Ever 4-H Club" from a young age, winning numerous local and county awards for his livestock, including a grand champion Black Angus steer. In 1951 at the age of 17 he was selected as a Kansas delegate to the National "Who's Who" conference in Washington, D.C. and met President Truman. He graduated from Burlington High School in Burlington, Kansas in 1952.

He received a track scholarship to Kansas State University and enrolled in 1952. Later, Gary voluntarily enlisted in the U.S. Army (missile program). It was while he was stationed at Ft. Monmouth, New Jersey, that he met Janet Moyer, his future wife. Following his honorable discharge from the service, he completed his B.S. degree in Agriculture from Kansas State University in 1958, followed by his M.S. degree in 1959 in Agriculture and Statistics, at which time he was given the Research Excellence Award from the Society of Sigma Xi for the "best thesis in the field of science".

Gary went on to receive his Ph.D. in Statistics at Virginia Polytechnic Institute (now Virginia Tech) in 1963. He was recruited back to Kansas State University as an assistant professor in the Department of Statistics from 1963-1965. In 1965 he accepted a tenured position at the University of Missouri as Professor of Statistics and Agronomy, which he held for 35 years. He taught 2-3 courses per semester to graduate students, including Statistical Analysis, Analysis of Variance, and Experimental Design. Dr. Krause served on over 300 graduate student committees, about a third were Ph.D. candidates. He continued on as Professor Emeritus for several years following his retirement, continuing to guide and mentor graduate students.

While at the University of Missouri, Gary was a sought-after consultant across campus as well as nationally by both faculty and graduate students, and co-authored over 125 publications. His areas of specialization were in design of experiments, estimation and statistical genetics. Dr. Krause did research in plant and animal breeding, experimental technique, sample survey design and digital computing. He also served as Agricultural Experiment Station Statistician and Coordinator of Computing for the University.

Over the years, Gary received many honors and awards including the Gold Chalk Teaching Award, C.V. Riley Teaching Award, Faculty Alumni Award, Gamma Sigma Delta Graduate Teaching Award, Missouri State Fair Citation, and the Mid-Missouri Statistician of the Year Award by the American Statistical Association.

While Professor at the University of Missouri he traveled on several international work assignments to Tanzania (U.S. AID team member), Kenya, Tunisia, and New Zealand to share his knowledge of agricultural research methods. He also served as the university’s leader for research training methods for junior members of international Agricultural Ministries for 5 years.

Gary was a farmer throughout his life--growing soybeans and wheat on farms in Kansas and Missouri, and raising Black Angus livestock. He greatly enjoyed hunting and fishing with his son and grandson, and was the proud owner of many prize-winning hounds.

For over 50 years Gary was an active member of Trinity Presbyterian Church, serving as Elder, Chair of the Property Committee, and participating in the life of the church with his wife, Janet.

Gary was preceded in death by his parents. Survivors are his wife Janet Krause of 59 years, two daughters Karen Koeppe and husband Robert of Ann Arbor, MI, and Heidi Krause-Steinrauf and husband Robert of McLean, VA, and a son Seth Krause and wife Donna of Columbia. He was immensely proud of his six grandchildren: Erika and Andrew Koeppe, John and Anna Krause-Steinrauf, and Jacob and Chloe Krause. Other survivors include his sisters, Naida Jimenez and Carol Simmons.

Memorials may be given to either Loaves and Fishes (make checks payable to Trinity Presbyterian Church, 1600 Rollins Road, Columbia, MO 65203) or Re-Member (non-profit organization working with the Oglala Lakota people on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota): P.O. Box 5054, Pine Ridge, SD 57770-5054.