DONALD W. POUCHER

POUCHER, DONALD W.
Donald W. Poucher (Don) passed away at home on October 7, 2018 after a long illness. Poucher retired as Assistant Vice President for Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) in 2010.
Poucher's service to the University spans a 40-year period during which time he served as a tenured assistant and associate professor. His assignments have included developing, implementing, and directing the UF/IFAS institutional marketing program, which included a strong reliance on analytically sound integrated marketing communications. Poucher has also served as federal relations liaison to Washington D.C. counsel and in that role has worked to help increase federal earmarked funds for UF/IFAS from less than $2 million in 1999 to more than $ 13 million for FY 05-06. He has also held University-wide posts of Assistant-to-the- President and Director of Alumni Affairs. As Alumni Director, he was a member of the UF development team and was responsible for individual gifts and alumni giving. Poucher has also served as President and Chief Executive Officer of a commercial radio broadcasting company, and a senior vice president (marketing and business development officer) for two bank holding companies. He is a native Floridian and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in telecommunications in 1964 and a Master of Arts in communications and marketing in 1965, both from UF.
Poucher published the book on marketing for non-profit organizations SW²C and numerous papers on marketing. He has served as consultant to such diverse organizations as U.S. Agency for International Development, U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), the U.S. Office of Civil Defense, International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), the Pan American School of Agriculture (Zamorano), the University of the West Indies, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA), and the Pacific and Caribbean Basin Agricultural Research Groups. Poucher's out-of-country assignments include projects in Argentina, Aruba, Belize, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua and Cameroon. He has served as chair of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Telecommunications Advisory Council and as President of the Ag Institute of Florida, a consortium of information officers of agricultural industry groups. Poucher was a member of the Program Panel, the Administrative Council and Board of Directors' Executive Committee for the American Distance Education Consortium (ADEC) and served as chair of its standing committee on marketing. His civic service includes membership in Rotary International, Treasurer of the United Way, President of Voluntary Action Center, and a director of the Alachua County American Cancer Society Unit.
Poucher has received numerous awards including the top international awards for excellence for communications management, marketing, television news, television programming, and television documentaries from the Agricultural Communicators in Education. He received the Irving Award, the highest award provided by ADEC for excellence in e-learning programs. He has received the Florida Public Relations Association Golden Image Judges Award and an Award of Distinction for video documentary production.
He is survived by wife Carol of Gainesville, brother Loren of Brandon, sister-in-law Betty of Jacksonville, niece Elizabeth Poucher Reynolds of Tampa, and nephew Allen of Jacksonville. In lieu of flowers, please make a gift to the UF College of Journalism and Communications.