OKEECHOBEE -- Frank “Sonny” Williamson Jr., 96, died peacefully at his home on Williamson Cattle Company Ranch on Feb. 18.

Williamson was well known in the cattle industry as a conservationist – one of the first ranchers to promote the idea of using conservation easements to preserve ranch land while protecting it from future development.

The Florida Agriculture Hall of Fame called him “arguably Florida’s – and the nation’s – premier agro-ecologist.”

Inducting Williamson into their ranks in 2005, organization explained “A visionary leader, Williamson understands that farmers must protect and preserve the natural environment in order to sustain their industry.”

A fifth-generation Floridian, Williamson was born in Clearwater on Dec. 15, 1929. After graduating from the University of Florida with a degree in agriculture, he went to work on his father’s ranch, Williamson Cattle Company, in Okeechobee. 

Since 1948 Williamson Cattle Company has been developed as a family business which produces cattle and citrus in Okeechobee, and cattle and catfish in Greensboro, Alabama.  

Ever mindful of agriculture’s interface with the natural environment, Williamson was a firm believer that agricultural decisions should be made based on sound science. To that end, he was a tireless supporter of agricultural and environmental research. In the 1990s as a governing member and chairman of the South Florida Water Management District, he persuaded the district to fund agro-ecology research conducted by the University of Florida on Buck Island Ranch at Archibold Biological Station in Lake Placid.  He also led research efforts at the UF/IFAS Indian River Research and Education Center Aquaculture Demonstration Project.

He held leadership positions with the Okeechobee County Farm Bureau, the Okeechobee Soil and Water Conservation Board, the Florida Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, the Florida Cattlemen’s Foundation and the University of Florida SHARE Council.

In 2004, Williamson Cattle Company was one of seven national winners of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association National Environmental Stewardship Award, presented by the Resources Conservation Service of the USDA. Williamson Cattle Company was the first ranch east of the Mississippi River to receive this honor.

Williamson’s special talents as a negotiator and mediator were recognized by the Florida Conflict Resolution Consortium in 2000 when he received the Ninth-Timer Powers Dispute Resolution Leadership Award.

In 2003 he was named the Lancaster Sunbelt Farmer of the Year from Florida. That same year he received the Commissioner’s Agricultural-Environmental Leadership Award from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and the Florida Environmental Stewardship Award from the Florida Cattlemen’s Association.

He was named an honorary member of Future Farmers of America as a result of his ongoing support of the organization.

Awards also included the 2009 Indian River State College Entrepreneur of the Year, the 2006 Distinguished Alumnus of The University of Florida,  and 2003 Lancaster/Sunbelt Exposition Southeastern Farmer of the Year for Florida.

Sonny was preceded in death by his wife of 72 years, Betty Chandler Williamson.

Some information for this article came from the Florida Agriculture Hall of Fame and the National Cattlemen’s  Association.

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Buxton Funeral Home.