WILLIAMSBURG — Edwin Jaenke, 89, passed away Tuesday, May 26, 2020. He was the son of Edwin A. and Flora Schneider Jaenke. Born Sept. 14, 1930, in St. Louis, Missouri, he grew up in Dupo, Illinois, where his father was teacher and principal of Hoff Elementary School.
Upon graduation from Dupo Community High School, he received an A.A. degree from Blackburn College at Carlinville, Illinois, 1950; and a B.S. Degree from University of Illinois, 1952, in Education and Agriculture, also organizing and serving as the first president of the Agricultural Education Club.
On Oct. 26, 1952, he married Claire L. Schmidt, his college sweetheart.
From 1952 to 1955 he served in the U.S. Navy. Following Officer’s Candidate School at Newport, Rhode Island, he was assigned to the U.S. Navy Amphibian Force in the Far East during the Korean War.
Upon completing his U.S. Navy duty, Jaenke entered the University of Missouri Graduate School and was awarded a Masters of Arts Degree in Agricultural Economics, focusing on international trade. In 1957, he was hired by U.S. Senator Stuart Symington from Missouri to be his agricultural advisor and assistant at his office in Washington, D.C., also serving on the staff of the Senate Agricultural Committee.
In 1961, Jaenke was hired by Secretary of Agriculture Orville Freeman to be executive vice president of the Commodity Credit Corporation, the government agency responsible for storing and exporting U.S. farm commodities. He also served as the USDA representative developing farm legislation with the U.S. Congress.
For his service in 1969, Jaenke was awarded the highest recognition as one of the Ten Most Outstanding Young Men under 40 serving in Government. In 1969, Jaenke was appointed as the youngest-ever governor of the Farm Credit Administration, responsible for $13 billion in lending, providing credit for U.S. farmers and ranchers and their cooperative businesses. Under his leadership, the Farm Credit system made remarkable progress, with a new congressionally-approved charter, a nearly 300% increase in lending, and greater involvement in world markets.
From 1975 to 1995, Jaenke founded and built his own company, E. A. Jaenke & Associates, a Washington D.C.-based international food and agriculture consulting firm, serving major U.S. food and export companies and food agencies in Japan, Australia and South America. He traveled to 53 countries while promoting U.S. agricultural interests.
His public service included serving on the board of directors for Blackburn College, Virginia State University (a historically-black land-grant college) Arbor Day Foundation; The Montpelier Foundation; Madison Presbyterian Church; and Habitat for Humanity, Madison County, which he also helped to found. He also served on the Agriculture Dean’s Advisory Committee for Virginia Tech University.
He and his wife purchased and operated to a large beef cattle farm in Madison County from 1979 to 2008. In 2008, they retired to Williamsburg. He enjoyed 59 years of married life to Claire Jaenke, ended by her untimely death on Nov. 11, 2011. He was proud of raising and educating four children, Janet Mackert of Evans, Georgia, Dale Jaenke of Lynchburg, Dr. Karen Jaenke, of Richmond, California, and Paul Jaenke of Arnold, Maryland. He is the grandfather of 11 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to one of two organizations that Ed heartily supported, ECHO, a non-profit that teaches small-scale, sustainable farming methods to families; or Habitat for Humanity, bringing communities together to build.
A memorial service will be held this summer at Madison Presbyterian Church, Madison.
Share online condolences with the family at Nelsen Funeral Home.
