He was born and raised on a small farm in Sabetha, Kansas.
[1] He earned a BS degree in animal husbandry from the Kansas State University, and MS and PhD degrees in Food Science/Meat Science at Michigan State University.
After his graduate work he became a professor in the Department of Animal Sciences at Purdue University.
In 1983, he became chair of the Animal Sciences Department at University of Nebraska–Lincoln, where he continued to work as a professor.
In 1998, he joined the faculty of University of Wisconsin, where he was named Dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.