Mrak, Emil M.

Mrak, Emil M. (1901–87) food scientist; born in San Francisco. He grew up on a prune-producing farm in Santa Clara Valley, Calif. In 1937 he joined the faculty at the University of California: Berkeley, his alma mater, became chairman of the food science department in 1948, and stayed with the department when it moved to the Davis campus (1951). In 1959 he was named chancellor at Davis. Retired in 1969, he focused on world food problems in developing nations. An internationally recognized yeast specialist, he was also an expert at drying fruit.