Russell Franklin “Frank” Frazier died October 20 at the age of 91. He served as the first president of the National Broiler Council, now the National Chicken Council, from 1955 to 1972.
Frazier, a native of Kentucky, graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1940 with a degree in agricultural economics. After serving in the U.S. Navy, he became a poultry and egg marketing specialist for USDA. In 1946, he became executive secretary of the Virginia State Poultry Federation and, in 1948, he was named executive secretary of the Southeastern Poultry and Egg Association.
In May of 1954, Frazier met with poultry industry leaders in Atlanta to discuss the broiler industry and the economic challenges the industry was facing at that time. This meeting resulted in the creation of the National Broiler Council, and Frazier was elected its first secretary-treasurer, then the organization’ s first executive vice president, a position that later became president.
While serving as president, he developed national programs for promoting consumer demand for chicken, which were factors in expanding per capita consumption of ready-to-cook chicken from 21.3 pounds in 1955 to 38.5 pounds in 1972. In 1968, he was the industry’s principal spokesman in guiding through Congress important amendments to the Poultry Products Inspection Act of 1957. He received numerous awards including being inducted in 1988 into the American Poultry Historical Society’s Poultry Hall of Fame and, in 2004, he was honored by the National Chicken Council as a “broiler industry pioneer.” After leaving the National Broiler Council in 1972, he founded the American Agribusiness Associates.
He was preceded in death by his wife of 49 years, Elizabeth and is survived by two daughters, Libby Frazier Hixon and Frances B. Frazier, and by four grandsons. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions in his memory to the American Cancer Society or to a charity of choice.
