Charles Kenneth Laurent

CHARLES KENNETH LAURENT, 96, of Bartow, Florida, died in his sleep on July 27, 2019 after a brief  illness. A native of Bartow, he was the son of John Ferguson and Katherine Campbell Laurent, also of Bartow. After attending local schools, he served in the Army Air Corps during World War II and later retired from the U.S. Air Force Reserves as a Lieutenant-Colonel. He attended the University of Florida in Gainesville and then Cornell University in Ithaca, NY for his M.S. and PhD in Agricultural Economics. Dr. Laurent had a distinguished teaching career at Auburn University, and later at the University of Georgia, where he was Chairman of the Poultry Department. He left university teaching to become general manager and later president of Marbut Milling Company in Augusta, GA. In 1964, Dr. Laurent joined the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations as Director of Research in Bogotá, Colombia. Later, he served in Nigeria, Tanzania, El Salvador, Iran and Jordan. He retired to Bartow in 1985, but continued to work on short-term overseas assignments as a government consultant. Dr. Laurent was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Bartow, the Bartow Kiwanis Club, the American Agricultural Economics Association, and the International Association of Agricultural Economists. He was predeceased by his wife of 50 years, Martha Long Laurent, in 2000 and a daughter Jane Katherine Laurent, in 2016. He is survived by two daughters, Helen Ashton Laurent of Staten Island, NY, and Sarah Lucinda Laurent, of Phoenix, AZ, and four grandchildren. A gathering of family and friends for Kenneth will take place on Wednesday, from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM at Whidden McLean Funeral Home.