Date of Birth: Milford, Delaware.

Date Married:

Date of Death: 1998
 

1943 - BSc degree from University of Delaware.

1943-46 Served as an officer in the US Marine Corps.

1947 - MSc degree from Iowa State University in Animal Breeding.

1949 - PhD degree from Iowa State University in Animal Breeding.

1949 - Assistant Professor at North Carolina State University.

1954 - Full professor at North Carolina State University.

1956 - Named a William Neal Reynolds Professor, an honour reserved for the most outstanding professors in the School of Agriculture and Life Sciences (12th such person).

1967 - Received the Borden Award from ADSA for work on dairy cattle breeding.

1977 - Received the J. R. Prentice Memorial Award in Animal Breeding and Genetics from ASAS.

Famous textbook - "Breeding and Improvement of Farm Animals" by Rice, Andrews, Warwick, and Legates - 8 editions from 1926 to 1990.  The 8th edition was by Legates and Warwick.  His research studies were on milk yields, milk constituents, reproductive efficiency, susceptibility to mastitis, longevity, and conformation utilizing data from research herds in North Carolina that were under his direction.  He designed and initiated a selection project within the North Carolina State University dairy herd in the early 1950's that served as a model for other large scale research projects in genetic selection of dairy and beef cattle.  The herd was split into selection and control groups to measure genetic change.  He also looked at basic quantitative genetic theory through experiments on laboratory species including growth, maternal effects, reproductive efficiency, feed intake, and body composition.

Dr. Legates was an effective communicator, and gave lectures in Wageningen and other countries.  He guided over 23 PhD and 17 MSc students.  He became Dean of the School of Agriculture and Life Sciences at North Carolina State.