Richard E. Rominger

1927 - 2020

Richard E. Rominger passed away on December 21, 2020 with his family by his side. Richard was born July 1, 1927 in Woodland CA as the first child of Albert H. Rominger and Anne Violet Ehrhardt Rominger. Rich had his elementary education in the rural one-room Union School. He graduated as valedictorian at Winters High School. After service in the U. S. Navy at the end of World War II, he attended the University of California, Davis, which is where he met his future wife Evelyne Rowe. Rich played trombone in the Aggie Band and third base on the Aggie baseball team. He graduated with highest honors with a degree in Plant Science. He was a member of Alpha Zeta, the National Agricultural Honor Society, and a life member of the Cal Aggie Alumni Association.After having worked on the farm growing up, including summer vacations during high school and college, Rich started farming full time with his father and brother Don. He and Evelyne were married in 1951 and raised their four children, Richard Stuart, Charles Albert (deceased), Ruth Elizabeth and Bruce James on the family farm in the home they built in 1959. The farm is now being operated by their sons Rick and Bruce, with their wives Patty and Robyn.Rich was active in many farm and civic organizations, including the Yolo County Farm Bureau where he served as a director of 25 years and president 1971-1973. He started his Farm Bureau career with the Young Farmers and Ranchers and was statewide president 1954-1955. He was a co-founder and founding president of the Yolo Land Trust. He served on the board of the American Farmland Trust for 17 years. He was chairman of the Yolo County Water Resources Board 1971-1977, a member of the Yolo County Agricultural Round Table Steering Committee for 18 years, chairman 1973-1975, and also served on many other agricultural organizations and committees.Rich was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown as Director of the California Department of Food and Agriculture in 1977, where he served for six years. He later served president Bill Clinton for eight years as Deputy Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C. He also served as a Regent at the University of California. He was active in his community, state, and country, and continued to support the causes he believed in up until the very end of his life.He is survived by his wife of 69 years, Evelyne; his children and their spouses, Rick and Patty, Ruth and Lars, and Bruce and Robyn; daughter-in law, Cairn; and his grandchildren, Katherine, Justin, Sarah, Cienna, Aldo, John, and Rachel, and his three-week-old great-grandson, Alexander. To continue Richard's work, donations can be made in his honor to the Yolo Land Trust located at 221 W. Court Street, Ste 5, Woodland, CA 95695, and to the Bradford-Rominger Agricultural Sustainability Leadership Award Fund at the Agricultural Sustainability Institute of UC Davis, care of CAES Deans Office University of California, located at One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA, 95616. No services are planned at this time.