BIBLE HILL – The Nova Scotia Agricultural College is mourning the passing of one of its former principals.
Bill Jenkins passed away Monday.
The Baddeck Forks native enrolled at the Bible Hill college and received his diploma in 1938 before becoming manager of Beech Hill Farms in Princeport for two years.
He went back to school, graduating from Macdonald College in 1942 before joining the Canadian Army. He served with the First Canadian Parachute Battalion, Northwest European Campaign, from 1943 to 1945.
Following the war, Jenkins continued his education, earning his master of science degree from Cornell University in New York 1947, a master degree and a doctorate from
Harvard.
He held many positions with the Nova Scotia government and in 1964 became the NSAC’s seventh principal, a position he held for eight years until his retirement.
It was during that time the college saw substantial growth in facilities, programs and enrolment.
While Jenkins was a big part of the college, he said previously NSAC had a significant role in his life.
“NSAC provided the basic background which took me from farm hand to principal and from high school to Harvard. In consequence, it is my favourite and most highly regarded alma mater,” he said during the college’s centennial celebrations in 2005.
The college named the dining hall in his honour in 1981 and in 1998 he was named a distinguished life member of the Nova Scotia Institute of Agrologists.