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Walter Goeppinger September 11, 1911 April 17, 2001 Walter Goeppinger, who received a B.S. in distributed studies from Iowa State in 1933, was internationally recognized for his leadership in improving agriculture production in the United States, Central America and Japan. Goeppinger was founder and chair of the National Corn Growers Association, which resulted after a meeting between Goeppinger and President Dwight Eisenhower in 1956. He also was the formation chair and first president of the U.S. Feed Grains Council, established in 1960. For 30 years, he conducted research to discover the origin of corn. In 1960, Goeppinger organized a "hog lift" to Japan after a typhoon destroyed the country's foremost agricultural state. Today, 95 percent of Japan's hogs are descendents of those Iowa hogs. In gratitude to Iowa, the Japanese state established its first U.S. sister-state relationship with Iowa. Goeppinger was president of the Iowa State University Alumni Association during the war years of 1941 to 1942, a time when there was renewed interest in alumni staying connected with each other. He was a member of the Order of the Knoll, and received the Alumni Association's Distinguished Achievement Citation in 1992.