ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Richard Earle and Mary Earle
Richard L. Earle, NZOM, Professor Emeritus, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
Richard Earle was Head of the Department of Process and Environmental Technology and Dean of the Faculty of Technology at Massey University. Trained as a chemical engineer and in operations research, he worked in the Meat Industry Research Institute of New Zealand. He then became Foundation Professor of Biotechnology at Massey University and was concerned with the processing of biological materials across a wide range of products and industries including foods and pharmaceuticals.
He wrote a pioneering textbook on
Unit Operations in Food Processing, used throughout the world. He has taught reaction technology courses at undergraduate and graduate levels, and in industrial seminars in New Zealand, Canada, Thailand and Australia. He has been involved with the manufacturing industry, including the development of a pharmaceutical company using meat by-products in New Zealand, and has also authored or co-authored many papers and a number of books.
Mary D. Earle, OBE, Professor Emeritus, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
At Massey University Mary Earle introduced product development courses into the food technology degree, and eventually organised the first four-year degree in product development in New Zealand. She also helped to introduce food technology and product development degrees in five universities in Thailand.
Her involvement with the New Zealand food industry has been extensive, in meat, dairy, fruit and vegetables, fish, bakery and snack foods companies. It included over three hundred company funded and associated student product development projects with many different companies, and the development of a Food Technology Research Centre that aided the food companies' development projects.
In 2014 Mary and Dick each received the Massey Medal in celebration of 50 years of food technology education at Massey University.
In 2018, they were each awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Massey University.
Unit Operations in Food Processing