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Atchison's Bud Cray dies at 96

By Brian Hagen

02/27/2019

Cloud L. "Bud" Cray, Jr/Credit: MGP Ingredients

(KAIR)--A titan of Atchison industry, and civic leadership, has died.

Cloud L. "Bud" Cray, Jr. died Wednesday.

His daughter, Karen Seaberg, confirms he died at 8 a.m.

He was 96.

Cray served in executive management roles at Atchison's MGP Ingredients from the time he joined the company in 1947.

According to his biography posted to the MGP website, Cray began serving as a member of the MGP Board of Directors in 1957, and served as Chairman from 1980 until 2005, and again in 2014.

He was President of the company from 1962 to 1980, and CEO from 1980 to September, 1988.

He retired as a director of the board in August, 2015, but continued to serve under the title of Chairman Emeritus.

The company released a statement Wednesday, saying “the MGP Ingredients family is saddened” by the passing of Cray who “helped guide the transformation of MGP from an industrial alcohol manufacturer to a leading maker of premium distilled spirits and specialty wheat proteins and starches.” The statement calls Cray “a generous resident of [MGP’s] headquarters community of Atchison, Kansas, where he provided countless resources to make Atchison a better place.”

Funeral arrangements are pending.

Cray was also a veteran of World War II.

In 2013, then MSC News reporter Joel Hardy talked with Cray about his time in the United States Army.

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