Cockerham, C. Clark (Columbus Clark), 1921-1996.

C. Clark Cockerham (1921-1996), Distinguished University Professor of Statistics and Genetics, directed North Carolina State University's program in quantitative genetics from 1960 to 1990.

C. Clark (Columbus Clark) Cockerham was born on December 21, 1921, in Mountain Park, North Carolina. He received a B.S. in agriculture from the North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering (later North Carolina State University) in 1943 and served as a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps during World War II. In 1949 he earned an M.S. in animal industry from North Carolina State College, and in 1952 he earned a Ph.D. in animal breeding and genetics from Iowa State College. He then returned to North Carolina to teach and do research.

Cockerham combined biological insight with mathematical innovation. Theoretical predictions made possible through his work transformed crop and herd improvement, and benefited all sectors of agriculture and forestry. More than fifty per cent of the hybrid corn in the United States comes from lines that were developed with his help. The field of DNA fingerprinting, the matching of criminal suspects to their body fluids, owes much to his work.

Cockerham began North Carolina State's program in quantitative genetics in 1963 with support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). That program was the largest federal grant project in existence at the university from 1963 through 1990. Cockerham wrote or co-wrote more than a hundred works that contributed to fundamental advances in understanding natural populations, including human populations. His early work set the course of agricultural genetics, and his later work focused on evolutionary genetics.

As a professor of statistics at North Carolina State University and the Director of the NIH Project Program in Statistics at NCSU, Cockerham received many honors and awards. He was the William Neal Reynolds Professor of Statistics and Genetics, winner of the Gamma Sigma Delta Award of Merit, a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and a winner of the North Carolina Award in the field of science. Cockerham received the O. Max Gardner Award in 1980, became a University Distinguished Professor Emeritus in 1988, received the USDA Superior Service Award for Scientific Research in 1990, and was awarded the Holladay medal in 1994.

Cockerham was married to Joyce Allen Cockerham. The couple had three children. C. Clark Cockerham died on November 4, 1996, at the age of seventy-five.