Robert E. Osborne; Former Head of Knudsen Corp.

Robert E. Osborne, 92, former head of the Knudsen Corp. and president of the Milk Industry Foundation. A native of Iowa, Osborne earned a degree in dairying at the UC College of Agriculture in 1926 and immediately went to work for Knudsen as a laboratory technician. He rose in the organization, with time out for service as an Army lieutenant colonel during World War II, and succeeded the dairy’s founder, T.R. Knudsen, as president and general manager in 1954. Osborne was named chairman of the board and chief executive officer in 1965. In addition to his work on various state dairy organizations, Osborne was a director of the Merchants & Manufacturers Assn. and was active on the California Constitution Revision Commission, the Los Angeles Metropolitan Traffic Assn., the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and the Welfare Federation. On April 18 in Paso Robles of heart failure.