Background
Mrak was born in San Francisco, California, and graduated from Campbell High School in Campbell.
Mrak was born in San Francisco, California, and graduated from Campbell High School in Campbell.
He received a Bachelor of Surgery degree in Food Technology in 1926, Master of Surgery degree in 1928, and Doctor of Philosophy degree in botany and mycology in 1936 from University of California, Berkeley.
He was recognized internationally for his work in food preservation and as a world authority on the biology of yeasts. Early years Mrak was appointed as an instructor in food technology at University of California Berkeley in 1937 and became professor and department chairman in 1948. In 1951, he led the move of the department to its current location at University of California Davis, and was later appointed chancellor in 1959.
He was the first food scientist to ever be named president or chancellor of a college or university.
The only other food scientist to have this honor is James L. Oblinger, chancellor of the North Carolina State University in Raleigh from 2005 to 2009. He also served as chair of Institute of Food Technologists"s Northern California Section in 1947/48.
In 1969, Mrak served as chairman of a federal government commission (which became known as the Mrak commission) that recommended restricting the use of the pesticide DDT. He also served as the first chairman of the Environmental Protection Agency"s Science Advisory Council under President Richard M. Nixon. Personal life Mrak married Vera Dudley Greaves, a nutritionist, on November 15, 1945.
They had two children: Robert Emil Mrak (December 18, 1948) and Antoinette Vera Mrak (July 15, 1951).
Mrak died in Davis, California on April 9, 1987. Mrak Hall, the administration office building on the University of California Davis campus, is named in his honor. In 1988, University of California Davis also established the Emil M. Mrak International Award in his honor.
While an undergraduate at Berkeley, Mrak was a member of the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity. A charter member of the Institute of Food Technologists (Institute of Food Technologists) in 1939, Mrak served as its President from 1957 to 1958.