Dr. Allan D. Dickson died on October 8, 1997 in Black Earth, Wisconsin, at age 97. He was the first director of the USDA, Agricultural Research Service, Barley and Malt Laboratory, serving from its establishment in 1948 until his retirement in 1968. Dr. Dickson was born March 27, 1900 in Moxee City, Washington. He attended school in Yakima, Washington and Washington State University before he came to the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1919. There he earned his B.S. and, in 1929, his Ph.D. in Biochemistry. His Ph.D. thesis, under the supervision of Dr. W.H. Tottingham, was titled, "A Chemical Study of Soluble Carbohydrates and Respiration in Different Strains of Zea mays as Influenced by Temperature". After a brief period in Washington, D.C., he returned to Wisconsin in 1931 where he took a position with the USDA. With the repeal of prohibition in 1933, there was an urgent need for research on the quality of new barley varieties that had replaced the older malting varieties during the period when breweries were inactive. In 1934, Dickson joined his older brother, Jim, and H.L. Shands of the University of Wisconsin to initiate a barley testing and research program. They, along with B.A. Burkhart, Executive Secretary of the newly formed Malt Research Institute (MRI), began work directed towards two goals: 1) developing procedures and equipment for evaluating the malting quality of barleys on a laboratory scale, and 2) comparing the new hybrid barleys with the older varieties, Oderbrucker and Manchuria. These familiar varieties were preferred by the maltsters and brewers, but not by farmers who had mostly switched to growing the newer, higher yielding varieties. By 1940, the research emphasis had switched to evaluating new breeders' selections that were being developed at state and Federal experiment stations. Dr. Dickson conducted further research on physical and chemical variables of malt, particularly the amylases, as influenced by variations in the malting process. In 1948 a new barley quality research project was approved on that led to the establishment of the Barley and Malt Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin. Dr. Dickson was a driving force behind this program and was actively involved in designing the new facility. The Laboratory was completed in 1949, and he was appointed as the first director. From then until his retirement in 1968, Dr. Dickson was mainly involved in administration of the laboratory, supervising the barley quality evaluation program, and establishing and maintaining industry contacts. During this time he also did some research on Fusarium toxins in scab-infested barley. His major accomplishments were the establishment of the ARS barley quality testing program and development of the close relationship with the barley breeders and the malting and brewing industry (through the MRI, later Malting Barley Improvement Association, now American Malting Barley Association). This program remains a crucial aspect of malting barley improvement. Dr. Dickson was a member and past president of the American Society of Brewing Chemists and a member of the American Association of Cereal Chemists and the American Chemical Society. After his retirement, he moved from Madison to Black Earth, Wisconsin where he lived with his wife, Emma, who preceded him in death in 1982. The Dicksons had three children, nine grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.