Bentley, Ronald

Farm broadcaster and Iowa State University Extension marketing specialist. Ronald C. "Cap" Bentley was born on a Marshall County farm near Union, Iowa. He received his B.S. in 1923 and master's degree in 1924 at North Dakota Agricultural College. In 1927 he became a research assistant in agricultural economics at Iowa State College. Bentley was appointed Iowa extension marketing specialist in 1935 with the rank of assistant professor. In 1945 he was promoted to associate professor, then in 1959 to professor. Bentley created and hosted a half-hour broadcast on farm market news on WOI Radio and TV. The telecasts were the first of their kind in the nation. Twenty-six radio and 14 TV stations subscribed to his weekly recorded market analyses. In 1958 Bentley led a tour of 29 Iowans on a three-week tour of western Europe and Russia. After his retirement as WOI market editor in 1965, he became secretary of Promise, Inc. a medical, educational, and religious organization dedicated to helping Chinese in Hong Kong.