Emery Neal Castle was born on April 13, 1923 in Greenwood County, Kansas. He received a BS and MS in Agricultural Economics from Kansas State University in 1948 and 1950 respectively and a Ph D in Agricultural Economics from Iowa State University in 1952. Before coming to the Oregon State University Department of Agricultural and Reserve Economics in 1954, Castle served as an instructor in the Department of Economics at Kansas State University from 1948 to 1952 and held the position of agricultural economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City from 1952 to 1954. At OSU, Castle was promoted to associate professor in 1957 and to professor in 1959. Castle also held a number of administrative posts at OSU, including Dean of Faculty (1965-1966), Head of Agricultural Economics (1966-1972), Director of the Water Resources Institute (1966-1969), and Dean of the Graduate School (1972-1976). In 1976, Castle resigned from OSU to accept a position as vice president and senior research fellow at Resources for the Future (RFF), a Washington, DC public policy research institute. He served as president of RFF from 1979-1986.
In 1986 Castle returned to OSU as chair of the University Graduate Faculty of Economics, a position he held until 1992. In 1987 he received a grant from W.K. Kellogg Foundation which enabled him to establish a National Rural Studies Committee. In 1992 Castle was awarded professor emeritus status at Oregon State University. From 1992 to 1994, Castle chaired the Extended Education Transition Committee, which examined the administrative placement of the Extension Service Program at OSU and offered recommendations for its reorganization.
A summary of Castle's publications, awards, and professional activities is contained in a vita available in the MSS central file for Castle.
From the guide to the Emery N. Castle Papers, 1950-2000, (Oregon State University University Archives)
