In Memoriam - Dr. Joseph Hulse

Dr. Joseph Hulse, a Founder and Past President of the International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST) and a Fellow of the International Academy (IAFoST), died recently at his home in Ottawa, Canada, at the age of 90.
 

Dr. Hulse was a remarkable man and great leader in the field of food science and technology both in his home country of Canada and, with great significance, in the international community. He was recognized with many awards during his career for his work in the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) as a founding member of CGIAR (Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research) in Mysore, India, where he helped to establish and fund the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), and for his work with numerous other international organisations.
 

Dr. Hulse was primarily responsible for convincing FAO to start the International Food Technology Training Centre at CFTRI. The post-graduate degree in Food Technology begun in 1964 continues to train a large number of Food Technologists at both the post-graduate and doctorate levels. This Mysore project, developed in conjunction with FAO, was initiated through the Indo-Canadian Hunger project. It is well documented that Dr. Hulse himself volunteered to sell dot pens in Ottawa in support of the dream of a centre for Food Science Education at Mysore and raised over $1 million in that effort.
 

Dr. Hulse continued to work until several years ago for the betterment of the poor with specific projects for women to improve subsistence food crop production and utilisation through establishment of processing plants and hygienic processing.
 

IUFoST acknowledges with deep appreciation the service and leadership of Dr. Hulse. In 1960, he was one of the “Founders”, a small group of international scientists whose discussions led to the formation in 1962 of the International Committee of Food Science and Technology (ICFoST) after the 1st World Congress in London, which gave birth to IUFoST at the 3rd World Congress in Washington in 1970. In recognition of his important role as a Founder, he was chosen to give the very first Founders’ Lecture at the IUFoST World Congress in Toronto in 1991
 

Dr. Hulse served as President of IUFoST from 1979 to1983. In more recent years, he played an active part in IUFoST in discussions relating to food security and as Chair of an IUFoST Task Force on Integrated Food Systems.
 

Tributes to Dr. Joseph Hulse:

“If one counts practical experience in his father’s bakery from the age of four and working as a youth in a pig and poultry farm, and excludes time in the UK Royal Air Force, Joe Hulse was involved with food technology for 80 years. His was an outstanding lifetime career, not only in its sustained length and diversity but also in practical activities, as well as teaching and writing dedicated to helping to alleviate poverty and contributing to solving the problem of food security, particularly in developing countries.”
- J. Ralph Blanchfield, Past President of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology.

“His long career in the application of science and technology to some of the world’s most pressing problems of hunger and poverty ‘was’ outstanding.”

- Jacques Diouf – Director-General, FAO 1994-2011.

Dr. Joseph Hulse was not just an embodiment of a scientist but, indeed, was a great human being who touched each one of the Food Scientists in many Indian research organisations and at the M.S Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai, where he always spent about a week during this one month visit and where he combined his passion with compassion.”
- Dr. V. Prakash, Distinguished Scientist of CSIR in India and former Director of CFTRI, Mysore India.
 

“Joe received in 2008 the Padma Shri, a national award of India, given by the Indian Diaspora. The award was primarily given for his distinguished contributions to science in the service of the poor, particularly in India. As a previous recipient of national awards, I am regularly requested each year to put up names that I consider suitable for these awards. Joe was certainly in my priority list, for all that he has done for science, particularly international science, and in the area of great relevance to humanity - food and nutrition, certainly for the poor.”
- M.G.K. Menon – Past President of International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU).

“I personally can think of no Canadian active in the development field who has had more practical impact on the lives of the poor than Dr. Hulse.”

- David Malone - Past President, International Development Research Centre (IDRC).