Walter E. Farr graduated from Mississippi State University in 1960, with a B.S. in Chemistry, Minor in Chemical Engineering. He performed graduate work at UT Medical Center, Memphis, specializing in industrial statistics. He joined Southern Cotton Oil Company, Wesson Oil and Snowdrift Division (later to become Hunt Wesson Foods) in 1960 as a quality control chemist, where he designed and set up the first statistical process control system.He transferred to the Wesson Oil Refinery in Fullerton CA, where he spent four more years as the refinery superintendent. This was followed by a tour of duty with ADM, Decatur IL; Anderson, Clayton & Co., Houston TX; and Kraft Foods, Memphis TN. He was named Kraft Technology Fellow in 1992, and retired from Kraft in 1993. He then spent 5 years with Owensboro Grain Co., Owensboro KY, and 5 years with Desmet NA, Atlanta, GA. Retiring again, he formed The Farr Group of Companies in Memphis, TN, in 2003.He joined the American Oil Chemists’ Society in 1973, where he was and he has been co-editor of several books, and chapter author in many more. Farr was named Fellow, AOCS in 2007.