In Memoriam: Edison Cabacungan

Edison Cabacungan, a professor emeritus and former longtime chair of the then-Department of Food Marketing and Agribusiness Management/Agricultural Education, died Oct. 17.

He was 85.

Born in the Philippines on Dec. 15, 1936, Professor Cabacungan earned his bachelor’s degree from Central Luzon State University in the Philippines and his master’s degree and doctorate from Virginia Tech.

Professor Cabacungan came to Cal Poly Pomona in 1973 to teach courses in agricultural business management. In 1990, he became chair of the then-Department of Food Marketing and Agribusiness Management/Agricultural Education, a post he served in through 2000.

He entered the Faculty Early Retirement Program in December 2001.

Professor Jon Phillips, the current chair of the retitled Department of Agribusiness and Food Industry Management/Agricultural Science, recalled meeting Cabacungan when he came to Cal Poly Pomona in 2002.

“He was a very helpful roadmap for me early in my career. He was a very gracious and kind man,” Phillips said. “He got along well with everyone, and he had a lot of contacts in agribusiness and the food industry.”

“He always put other people before himself,” Phillips added. “An example is his phenomenal success raising funds for scholarships from industry.”

Professor Cabacungan, and his wife Nenita, a professor emerita from the Department of Human Nutrition and Food Science, established a scholarship endowment in their names to assist students majoring in agribusiness. They established the fund to honor a former editor of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, whose generosity enabled Professor Cabacungan to attend college.

A funeral was held at the Rose Hills Mortuary on Nov. 5.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Cal Poly Pomona with memo line Drs. Edison and Nenita Cabacungan Scholarship Endowment Fund, c/o the Cal Poly Pomona Philanthropic Foundation, P.O. Box 3121, Pomona, CA 91769. Or donate online.