Past District Governor Ben Agnor, 2004-2005

Ben was born and raised in Marshall, Texas.   In 1958 he received a Bachelor of Science degree from A&M , in Animal Husbandry. He was 1st Lt., Training Officer, Advanced  Infantry  Training at 100th Division (TRNG), Ft. Chaffee, AR. He is retired from Eli Lilly & Company in 1987, where he held positions as Director of Sales to Vice President of Marketing. During his career with Monsanto Chemical and Eli Lilly he led delegations of  farmers to Europe and South America. As a vice president of the Elanco Ag. Chem. Division, He was responsible for 300 sales representatives, 30 field managers, 28 marketing managers and associates, and over $500,000,000 in annual sales, substantially from Treflan, the world's largest-selling herbicide for approximately 12 years. For 2 years his division was the most profitable of all of Eli Lilly & Co.'s operating divisions.

After retiring in 1987, Ben and his wife Margaret moved back to Marshall, Texas. They live in the house his parents built in 1929. They built a small guest house behind it and bought a small lake house on Caddo Lake, where he grew up hunting ducks and fishing, which he still enjoys. They have three children, Mary Kathryn, Annabell Duncan of Georgetown, TX, and Thomas B. Agnor of College Station, TX. They have five grandchildren. They are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Marshall. Ben's dad, Tom J. Agnor, was a member of The Rotary Club of Marshall, TX. His daughter, Mary Kathryn Kirkpatrick, is a member and Past President of the Rotary Club of Marshall, becoming the third generation of his family to love Rotary as a member of the same club.

Ben has served the Rotary Club of Marshall as President, Club Service Director, International Service Director, and Sponsor of Ambassadorial Scholar Lynsey Houchen, as well as many other fundraising projects and duties. He has served on the District GSE committee for several years, was host chairman for the South African GSE team. In Feb.- March 1998, Ben led the GSE Team from District 5830 to Tasmania, Australia.  He served as district governor in 2004-2005, during the "Rotary International "Centienial" year, and attended the Chicago Convention in 2005.. The president that year was Glenn E. Estes, Sr., whose theme was "Celebrate Rotary".  Ben's District Secretary was a reletively new Marshall Rotarian, Jenifer Larned.

Ben and Margaret are Paul Harris Fellows, Members of "The White Hat" Society, and TRF Major Donors. He has attended Rotary International Conventions  in the United States, Canada, and many foreign countries..