Dr. Terry Siebenmorgen's Obituary
Dr. Terry Siebenmorgen passed to his eternal reward on November 22, 2020 after a long, courageous battle with cancer. Terry was born to Anthony Justin Siebenmorgen and Benita Crescence Wewers Siebenmorgen. He grew up on a dairy farm in Morrison Bluff, AR and was the oldest of eight children. In 1982 he married Patty Carter. They had three sons, Justin, Matthew and Ryan and made their home in Fayetteville, AR where they raised beef cattle. Terry was a devoted husband, father and grandfather who never did anything at less than 100% effort. Terry was most happy when he was developing a vision for “building” something – whether it be a program or an actual structure – and he always followed thru to completion, no matter the difficulty.
Terry was preceded in death by his son, Matthew, his father, Anthony and a sister. He is survived by his wife, Patty, son Justin Wayne (Candace) Siebenmorgen of Fayetteville, son Ryan Patrick (Abbey) Siebenmorgen of Fayetteville, four grandchildren, Cooper James, Bailey Rae, Lyla Kate and Blake Matthew, his mother Benita, four brothers, two sisters and many nieces and nephews.
Terry earned his undergraduate degree from the UA, a M.S. degree from Purdue and a PhD from the University of Nebraska, all in agricultural engineering. He began his faculty career at the UA in 1984 as a food engineer, working in several areas of food processing. He soon focused extensively on rice processing in response to the strong need for research from the food industry. He founded the world-renowned Rice Processing Program in 1994. His rice processing program is an industry-interactive, multidisciplinary effort focusing on rice processing operations and has sponsors from across the United States, South America, Europe and Japan. He built excellent relationships and trust with industry members to run this successful Rice Processing Program for more than 25 years.
Terry was appointed to the Distinguished Professor rank in 2015 and was inducted into the Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame in 2019. He was also inducted as a Fellow of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers in 2005 and of the American Association of Cereal Chemists International in 2014. Among his many industry awards are being selected as Riceland Foods’ Friend of the Farmer in 2012 and receiving the Distinguished Service Award from the Rice Technical Working Group in 2016 and 2018. He also received the ASABE Distinguished Food Engineer Award in 2007. He was twice selected for the Texas Instruments Outstanding Research Award. He earned the Spitze Land Grant University Faculty Award for Excellence and John W. White Team Award at UA Division of Agriculture.
Terry will be remembered by all for his optimism, endless drive, kindness, humility and his love for Jesus.
Funeral Mass will be held at 11:00 a.m. Friday, November 27, at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Fayetteville, with a Rosary service preceding it at 10:30 a.m. For those unable to attend, the celebration will be streamed at : https://www.facebook.com/events/574904600014170/
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to:
Young America’s Foundation,
11480 Commerce Park Drive, 6th Floor
Reston, VA 20191
Boys Town
14100 Crawford Street
Boys Town, NE 68010
St. Joseph Catholic Church
1722 N Starr Drive
Fayetteville, AR 72701
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