Mr. Russell Dead at 88

Nationally-Famed Agriculturalist Dies In Lincoln; Rites Today

A native Blairite who achieved nationwide fame as a swine expert and agricultural authority, died Tuesday.

E. Z. Russell, 88, prominent in Nebraska agriculture more than half a century, died at Lincoln, where he had made his home. He was one of the handful of remaining Washington County pioneers.

Funeral services for Mr. Russell will be held at 11 a.m. today (Thursday) at the Roberts Mortuary in Lincoln. There will be graveside rites in Blair Cemetery at 2 p.m.

Mr. Russell, a pioneer Duroc hog breeder and long-time Nebraska swine raiser, had operated a farm, edited a farm magazine, served on the State Board of Agriculture, and served in Washington as head of the swine division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Mr. Russell was born Dec. 15, 1866, on a farm near Blair. He later moved to Fort Calhoun and Herman, where his father raised hogs.

Later, he married Grace Cameron and moved to a Frontier County farm.

Board Member

In 1903 he was named to the State Board of Agriculture and served until 1912, being treasurer from 1906 to 1909.

Mr. Russell became editor of the Twentieth Century Farmer magazine in Omaha in 1913. He was responsible in 1918 for the founding of the Department of Animal Pathology at the University of Nebraska.

In Washington 29 Years

He went to Washington in 1917 to take a post with the U.S. Department of Agriculture swine division and later became head of the division. He remained in the division for 29 years.

Since his retirement from farm life in 1946, he has lived in Lincoln. He made his home at the Lincoln Hotel. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge in Blair. Survivors include a son, R. C. “Bob” Russell, Lincoln, a well-known Cornhusker athlete; a sister, Miss Lena Russell, Long Beach Calif., and one granddaughter. Enterprise 1 Dec 1955 E. Z. RUSSELL TO BE BURIED IN BLAIR Graveside rites will be held at the Blair Cemetery this (Thursday) afternoon at 2 P.M. for E. Z. Russell of Lincoln who died at the Lincoln Hotel in Lincoln Tuesday.

Mr. Russell was born southwest of Herman in 1866 and served as County Treasurer of Washington County about 1905. He also operated a purebred hog farm south of Blair before he left Blair in 1910.

He later was connected with the Agriculture Department of Washington, D. C. and was sent to South America by that Department.

He is survived by a son, Robert.

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~