Norman R. Collins

Dr. Collins is survived by his loving wife, Dolores; his sister, Roberta Shoup; his two daughters, Janet Drumm and Gail Khosla, and their husbands, Roger and Victor, respectively; his son, David Collins, and his wife Tammy; and his six grandchildren, Brian and Michael Drumm, Grant, Charles, and Duncan Khosla, and Brooke Collins.

Dr. Collins was a man of great intellect, deep integrity, incredible kindness, and open-mindedness, with a tremendous sense of adventure and love of travel. Using agricultural economics as a base, he strove passionately to make the world a better place by reducing poverty and hunger. He spoke several languages and had a wide circle of friends of different nationalities across the world. He worked tirelessly in the agricultural field to increase food production. He was particularly proud of helping launch the "green revolution" in the Punjab in India, helping to make India self-sufficient and food independent. Dr. Collins also served on the board of the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines. One of his proudest achievements was helping to determine how to grow rice, the staple food of over half the world’s population, more efficiently.

Dr. Collins was born in Topeka, Kansas and graduated from Kansas State with a degree in Agriculture Economics in 1950. He subsequently received his Master’s and Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University, studying under John Kenneth Galbraith, his doctoral advisor. He married Dolores Salmans in 1952, whom he met during her first week at Kansas State. In their 67 fun-filled years together, they led an action-packed life, living twenty years overseas in four continents and five different countries.

Dr. Collins served in the US Air Force during the Korean War and then started his career teaching at Kansas State University. He moved to the University of California, Berkeley, where he quickly became a full Professor in Agriculture Economics and Business Administration. He was a Fulbright Scholar during his years at Berkeley, moving his young family to Naples, Italy to be a Visiting Professor of Agriculture Economics at the University of Naples and lecturing in Yugoslavia and Poland. He spent four years in Santiago, Chile helping the country improve crop yields and serving as a visiting professor at both the University of Chile and Catholic University.

With an interest in applied economics and a desire to improve agricultural methods in developing countries, Dr. Collins was recruited in 1970 to join the international program staff of the Ford Foundation. His thirty years at the Ford Foundation gave Dr. Collins, Dolores, and their family the opportunity to live in New Delhi, India, Mexico City, Mexico and Greenwich, CT. He served on numerous Boards of Trustees and on committees for both international and domestic agricultural organizations including for the U.S. Dept of Agriculture and the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development.

After his retirement in 2000, Dr. Collins could be found on the tennis courts and golf courses, working as an elected member of RTM and enjoying the Retired Men’s Association in Greenwich. He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Greenwich and The Milbrook Club. Most importantly, Dr. Collins was a family man; his family was his greatest source of pride and joy. He will be deeply missed.