Coker, Robert Richardson, 1905-1987

Robert Richardson Coker was born September 6, 1905 in Hartsville, South Carolina; the son of David Robert Coker and Jessie Ruth Richardson Coker. Educated in Hartsville public schools, he first graduated in 1924 from Webb School in Bell Buckle, Tennessee and in 1928 received a bachelor of arts from the University of South Carolina. After graduation, he began working for Coker's Pedigreed Seed Company, the firm his father had founded in 1902. During the following decade, he assumed responsibilities for sales and became a member of the board of directors of the company. In 1951, he was named President of the firm; a position that he held until its sale in 1978 to the German agricultural seed firm, KWS. Under his direction, Coker Pedigreed Seed became a leader in the breeding of seed varieties for the South's major crops. He was active in a wide variety of local, state and national farm organizations, paying particular attention to the promotion of cotton and the eradication of the boll weevil. Coker had an active interest in education serving as an "ex officio" member of the State Commission on Higher Education, 1967 and as a Life Trustee of Clemson University, 1960-1987.