In memoriam: George Rendell

George Rendell

George D. Rendell, UC Cooperative Extension 4-H youth advisor emeritus and long-time director of UCCE in Los Angeles County, died on Feb. 19 in Long Beach. He was 90. 

“George was an incredible person who showed care and concern for all Cooperative Extension employees,” said Keith Nathaniel, 4-H youth advisor and director of UCCE in Los Angeles County. “He loved the work he did with Cooperative Extension and was especially proud of his work as a 4-H YD advisor before he became an administrator. His 40-plus years of service is a testament to his love and dedication to the mission of Cooperative Extension.”

Rendell was born in Rialto in San Bernardino County. At age 10, he joined 4-H. He noted his sister Wilma joined a different club because there were separate clubs for boys and girls. After completing a year of community college and planning to study law, he participated in a 4-H International Farm Youth Exchange Program that took him to Wales and England for 6 months. During the trip, he decided to major in agriculture, according to his oral history interview in 2008. 

He earned his B.S. in animal husbandry from UC Davis in 1955, then joined the Army for two years. In 1957, Rendell joined UC Cooperative Extension as a 4-H farm advisor in San Bernardino County.  In the early 1960s, he was awarded a 4-H fellowship, which he used to earn his master's degree in public administration from American University in Washington, D.C. In 1966, he was appointed UCCE director for San Bernardino County overseeing 11 advisors as UCCE began efforts to serve more diverse populations of Californians.

After Prop. 13 passed in 1978, limiting property tax, county budgets were reduced. Rendell expected the county to cut UCCE's budget by 44%. “We were fortunate in that two of the five supervisors were former 4-H club members,” he recalled in his oral history, and 4-H and the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program were popular with urban supervisors. “So we actually, in San Bernardino County, got an increase.”

In 1978, he was promoted to regional director. In 1985, he became a 4-H advisor and later added county director responsibilities in Los Angeles County, where he served until retiring in 1997.

“He and Katie Speers [then 4-H advisor in Los Angeles County] started the first 4-H-run afterschool program in the country,” said Sue Manglallan, UCCE 4-H advisor emeritus. “California led the way for 4-H to administer and support curriculum in programs in many states.”

Gifts in memory of Rendell may be made to the University of California 4-H program. To read more about his career, see his oral history at https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/roho/ucb/text/rendell_george.pdf. For more about his life, visit https://obituaries.neptunesociety.com/obituaries/san-pedro-ca/george-rendell-11167922.

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