Lester D. Mallory

Who was Lester D. Mallory?

Lester DeWitt Mallory was an American diplomat.

Mallory was born in Houlton, Maine. He received a bachelor of science in agriculture in 1927 and a master of science in agriculture degree in 1929 from the University of British Columbia. Mallory earned a Ph.D. in agricultural economics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1935.

The son of Enrique and May Mallory, Mallory spent his early years in Oregon, Alberta, and British Columbia, and attended Naramota and Oak Bay High Schools in British Columbia from 1919 to 1922. From 1927 to 1928 Mallory was an assistant in horticulture at the University of British Columbia, and in 1929 worked as secretary of the British Columbia Fruit Growers.

Mallory began working for the United States federal government in 1931, initially for the Department of Agriculture as assistant agricultural commissioner in Marseille, to which position he was appointed June 15, 1931. Mallory was selected for this position on the basis of his expertise in analysis of horticultural products.