Kavous Keshavarz, poultry diet skilled, dies at 82

Kavous Keshavarz, a professor emeritus in the Department of Animal Science and an expert in poultry nutrition, died on January 7th in Atlanta, Georgia. He was 82 years old.

Keshavarz, who lived in Athens, Georgia, was best known for his work on how diet affects egg size and eggshell quality in poultry, which provided important guidance for egg producers in New York and the Northeast. His program also provided a model for integrating applied research and extension to address key stakeholder issues.

“Professor Keshavarz has been widely recognized both within the Department of Animal Science and in the poultry industry more generally for his productive applied research and expansion program in the nutrition and management of poultry,” said Tom Overton, chair and professor, Department of Animal Science. in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Keshavarz was born in Iran in 1938 and received his bachelor’s degree in agriculture from Pahlavi University in Shiraz, Iran in 1961. Keshavarz received a Masters degree from Reading University in the UK in 1965 and a PhD in Poultry Nutrition from the University of Georgia in 1971.During high school and through 1978, Keshavarz returned to Iran to study Animal Sciences at Shiraz University (formerly Pahlavi University) to teach where he was promoted to associate professor.

From 1978 to 1981 he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Georgia, where he carried out research on poultry nutrition and examined the effects of temperature changes on heat production and the energy efficiency of broilers.

Keshavarz was hired as an Assistant Professor of Poultry Enlargement in the former Poultry and Avian Science Department in 1981. He joined the Animal Science Department in 1991 and was promoted to full professor in 1998. he retired in 2002.

“He dedicated himself to his roles and worked extremely hard in his office and laboratory,” said Xingen Lei, an animal science professor whose office was next to Keshavarz’s. “He conducted numerous large-scale poultry feeding experiments with his technician at the Cornell Poultry Teaching and Research Farm and was actively involved with poultry producers and feed companies.”

Among his numerous expansion activities, Keshavarz has interacted with feed companies, consultants and nutritionists in the New York industry, helping formulate poultry feed and solving feed problems faced by New York poultry producers.

Keshavarz is survived by his children Sally Kesh and Sandra Kesh.

The services will take place in Iran at a date to be determined.