Harold R. Benson, a long-time administrator at Kentucky State University, died late last month in Frankfort, Kentucky. He was 72 years old.
Dr. Benson was a native of Bamberg, South Carolina. He held a master’s degree in counseling and a doctorate in extension education from Ohio State University.
Dr. Benson directed the land grant program at Kentucky State University for 36 years. He directed the university’s extension program during that period and from 1985 to his retirement in 2011 he also directed the research program.
Aaron Thompson, interim president of Kentucky State University, said that in regards to his work with the land grant program, “Dr. Benson pushed a rock to the top of a mountain and then some of us were helicoptered in. He was a giant in the history of Kentucky State University.”
