Dr. Kenneth M. Quinn, former U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia and President Emeritus of The World Food Prize Foundation, was honored at the State Capitol with a National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) Medallion Award.
According to Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, Ambassador Quinn worked with tireless dedication throughout his career to improve the lives of others around the world.
He was 10th United States Ambassador to Cambodia. During his diplomatic career, Ambassador Quinn served: as a Rural Development advisor in the Mekong Delta; on the National Security Council staff at the White House; at the U.S. mission to the United Nations in Vienna; as Chairman of the U.S. Inter-agency Task Force on POW/MIAs; and as Director of Iowa SHARES, the humanitarian campaign that sent Iowa doctors, nurses, medical supplies and food to starving Cambodian refugees.
As President of the World Food Prize for the past 20 years, Ambassador Quinn endeavored to build this annual $250,000 award into the “Nobel Prize for Food and Agriculture.” He retired from the foundation at the end of 2019.
“With Muscatine being so heavily influenced by agriculture, the work the World Food Prize Foundation does is important to Muscatine,” said Iowa State Senator Mark Lofgren.
Senator Lofgren of Muscatine serves as Chair of the Economic Development Appropriations Subcommittee which contributes substantially each year to the World Food Prize.
