Distinguished Engineer
Hometown: Raymond
Civil Engineering ,
Jerome J. Lohr earned an M.S. in civil engineering from Stanford University in 1959 following his graduation from South Dakota State College. He then served as a research scientist and captain in the U.S. Air Force with duty at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, for four years. Lohr established J. Lohr Properties in 1965 as a land developer and builder of custom homes in Santa Clara and Monterey countries of California. He founded the J. Lohr Winery in 1974 with national product distribution beginning in 1979. The J. Lohr Winery was recognized as an industry leader in the use of night harvesting, field pressing and ultra filtration. Lohr also developed the process to produce non-alcoholic wine. He served as national chairman of the SDSU Foundation’s successfully completed Visions for the Future, $50 million for SDSU Capital Campaign and was a director of the SDSU Foundation Board of Directors for over 15 years. He was the founder, director and chair of the National Wine Coalition in Washington, D.C., and was past chair and board member of the California Wine Institute. He was honored as an SDSU Distinguished Alumnus in 1983 and was awarded an honorary doctorate for public service form SDSU in 2000. In 1999, the Jerome J. Lohr Award was created to honor him for his leadership and philanthropic support of SDSU. He was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame in 1999.