Donald Staheli: National FFA President 1951–52
Utah · No. 25 of 100 · National FFA President 1951–52
At a Glance
- Office: National FFA President, 1951–52 (No. 25 of 100)
- Home state: Utah, born in St. George and raised in Hurricane
- Life dates: October 19, 1931 – May 29, 2010
- Later work: Allied Mills, then president, CEO and chairman of Continental Grain Company
Donald Lafayette Staheli was the national face of the Future Farmers of America in 1951–52. He went on to graduate degrees at the University of Illinois and a career that took him to the top of one of the world’s largest private grain companies.
The FFA Year
Staheli’s obituary in Baking Business says he was elected national president of Future Farmers of America and spent a year traveling to major cities across the United States, meeting the president, cabinet members and heads of corporations. This was the period right after FFA’s federal charter, signed in 1950, and the year FFA began publishing The National Future Farmer, in 1952, according to FFA’s timeline. The sources reviewed do not describe his chapter or state offices.
Education and Business Career
- Graduate study: after college he earned master’s and doctoral degrees at the University of Illinois, per the obituary.
- Allied Mills: he joined Allied Mills, a Continental Grain subsidiary, in 1969.
- Continental Grain: he became president of Continental in 1984 and chief executive officer in 1988, and was elected chairman of the board in 1994. He retired in 1997.
- Boards and trade roles: he was a director of the U.S.–China Business Council, the National Committee on United States–China Relations and the U.S.–Russia Trade Council; chairman of an international business leaders’ advisory council for the mayor of Shanghai; and chairman of the Points of Light Foundation.
- Philanthropy: a $1.5 million gift established the Donald L. Staheli Chair of International Management at Brigham Young University’s Marriott School of Management, per the obituary.
- Military: Wikipedia reports two years of service in the U.S. Air Force.
Church Service
After retiring from Continental, Staheli became a prominent figure in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Church records cited by Wikipedia say he served as a general authority in the Second Quorum of the Seventy from April 1997 to September 2006 and as the first president of the Draper Utah Temple from its dedication in March 2009 until his death. This site mentions it because it is part of his public biography, and for no other reason.
Why His Story Matters
Staheli’s career is among the clearest examples of a former national president reaching the top of a global agribusiness firm. His path ran through graduate study and a long climb at Continental, with FFA as the earliest national stage. The record does not say whether he credited FFA for the career turns.
What the Record Does Not Show
This site did not locate contemporary newspaper coverage of his 1951–52 year, his chapter or advisor, or interviews in which he discussed FFA later. The identification of the Continental Grain executive with the national president rests on the Baking Business obituary, which states both facts.