Maurice “Maury” Kramer was inducted into the National 4-H Hall of Fame to recognize his lifetime of contributions to 4-H. He was one of 13 people inducted on Monday (Oct. 9).
In 1984, Kramer joined Purdue Extension as the associate director of Extension and Indiana 4-H department head. He started the first animal drug testing at the Indiana State Fair and was instrumental in leading Indiana 4-H to adopt the use of computers to record enrollment and management. During his tenure, Indiana’s “Say Yes to 4-H” initiative took place, which provided a renewal of the 4-H program in all 92 Indiana counties.
“Maury was a great listener for all county extension staff and tried to understand each of our county’s situations,” shared Roger Sherer, retired 4-H youth development educator for Purdue Extension – Wells County. “He was also a big proponent of working to update curricula.”
Kramer and former Indiana 4-H state coordinator, Ed Frickey helped coordinate the “Seeds in Space” project with astronaut and Indiana 4-H alumnus, Jerry Ross. The project resulted in sycamore trees across Indiana that were grown from seeds taken to outer space on space shuttle Atlantis.
Kramer served on the Labo Japanese National Committee where he served as chair in 1996-97, Extension Committee on Programs (ECOP) subcommittee on 4-H Policy and Extension Service’s national committee on 4-H mission and goals.
Prior to his leadership at Purdue, Kramer served as the assistant state 4-H leader at Iowa State and the state 4-H program leader at Penn State University. He received his master’s and doctorate degrees from Iowa State University.
The Indiana 4-H Foundation is hosting a reception for Kramer in Carmel on October 21 in conjunction with the Indiana 4-H Foundation’s Scholarship Luncheon.
