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| Affiliation | Democratic |
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| Name | Tommy Irvin |
| Address |
Mount Airy, Georgia , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
July 14, 1929 |
| Died |
September 15, 2017
(88 years) |
| Contributor | Thomas Walker |
| Last Modifed | David
Jul 14, 2020 11:40pm |
| Tags |
Baptist -
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| Info | A native of Georgia, Tommy Irvin was elected to his first public office as a member of the Habersham County Board of Education in 1956. Later, he served as Chairman of his school board and President of the Georgia School Boards Association. Because of his many years of hard work and dedication to improving education, he was given an honorary lifetime membership in the Parent-Teacher Association of Georgia and the Georgia School Food Service Association. Elected to four terms in the Georgia General Assembly as a Representative from Habersham County, he served on the House Agriculture, Education and Appropriations Committees and chaired the House Industrial Relations Committee and the Governor's Conference on Education. He was the Governor's Floor Leader and later served as Executive Secretary to the Governor.
Having served as Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture since 1969, he is the Dean of Georgia's Constitutional officers and is recognized as one of the state's most able leaders. He is Chair of the Georgia Development Authority and the Georgia Seed Development Commission, a member of the Georgia State Financing and Investment Commission, the Georgia Building Authority, the Georgia Rural Development Council, vice-chair of the Georgia State Employee Benefits Plan Council, and an ex-officio member of eleven Georgia Agricultural Commodity Commissions.
His activities and leadership in agriculture extend into many areas of service on the national level, as well as on the local, regional and state levels. He is the only Georgian to serve as president of his professional organization, the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA). He currently serves as chairman of the NASDA Pesticide Regulation Committee and is a member of the Animal Health and Plant Industry Committee. He also is past president of the Southern Association of State Departments of Agriculture (SASDA), as well as a founder and twice president of the Southern United States Trade Association (SUSTA), an organization which promotes the export of southern food and agricultural products. He currently serves as vice-president of SASDA.
Commissioner Irvin is a Thirty-Third Degree Scottish Rite Mason and served as Grand Master of Masons in Georgia. Irvin is also a Shriner, a member of Alpha Gamma Rho Fraternity, an honorary member of Alpha Zeta Honor Fraternity, a member of the Gridiron and AGHON Societies of the University of Georgia, former Chair and member of the Board of Trustees of Truett-McConnell College, and a trustee of Piedmont College.
Among his many awards are the Progressive Farmer magazine Man of the Year in Service to Agriculture; the National Award for Agricultural Excellence given by the National Agri-Marketing Association; the National Future Farmers of America Honorary American Farmer Degree and the Southeastern Poultry and Egg Association's ``Workhorse of the Year" award presented at the International Poultry Exposition and considered to be the most prestigious all-industry recognition for an individual. He was inducted into the Georgia Agrirama Hall of Fame, the Vidalia Onion Hall of Fame, the University of Georgia College of Agriculture Hall of Fame and received the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine's Distinguished Service Award. For his many years of public service as a Democrat, he was named ``Democrat of the Year" and received the Richard B. Russell Public Service Award.
Commissioner Irvin and his wife Bernice, are the parents of five children and have fourteen grandchildren. They live on a farm in the Glade Creek Community of Habersham County where he has served as a deacon in the Antioch Baptist Church.
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