Cal Poly Names Alumnus George Soares Advocate of the Year
SAN LUIS OBISPO -- Cal Poly has named alumnus George Soares, a well-known attorney and agriculturalist, as its 2007 Advocate of the Year. Soares will be honored at a California State University ceremony in Sacramento March 19.
Soares is a 1966 ag business graduate and former Cal Poly student body president. He earned his law degree at the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law. A Sacramento resident, he owns and operates a dairy and farming business in Hanford and is the founder and managing partner in the law firm of Kahn, Soares & Conway.
Before entering private practice, Soares served as principal consultant to the California State Assembly from 1972 to 1978.
"George has been a longtime friend of Cal Poly and the CSU and has been a strong advocate of many issues related to support of the university, the system, higher education and his true passion -- agriculture," said Sandra Gardebring Ogren, Cal Poly's vice president for University Advancement.
Born in the tiny San Luis Obispo County town of Harmony, Soares was raised in the California Central Valley. He has successfully built his legal and lobbying practice into the dominant force in the realm of agriculture. He has engineered the creation of 20 state commissions to govern commodities from avocados to walnuts – groups which help determine the shape, size and quantity of fruits and vegetables sold throughout the state.
Currently, Soares serves on the Cal Poly Foundation Board of Directors and is the chair of the CSU Commission on Agriculture. He is the recipient of numerous honors. In 1986 he was named an honorary lifetime member of the California Agricultural Aircraft Association. In 1987, he was named the Honored Alumnus from the Cal Poly's College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences.
He served on the board of directors of the Agricultural Education Foundation from 1990 through 1999 and has served on the San Joaquin College of Law Agricultural Advisory Board since 1996. He is an honorary lifetime member of the Western Crop Protection Association and received the Outstanding Service Award from the American Crop Protection Association in 2000.
In 2001 he was the recipient of the Golden Bear Award, presented by the California State Fair for service to youth and has been selected as a 2002 recipient of the California Agricultural Leadership Program’s Profile in Leaders in the category of Public Policy.
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