Mr. Saglio was the son of Italian immigrants.
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HENRY SAGLIO, 92, 'FATHER' OF POULTRY INDUSTRY, DIES
New York Times
By Anahad O'Connor
December 21, 2003

Henry Saglio, who helped make poultry the most popular meat in America when he slashed production costs by breeding a meatier bird that matured quickly and laid more eggs, died on Dec. 13 at a nursing home in Connecticut. He was 92.

The cause was cardiac arrest, said his daughter, Janet Saglio.

"He is the father of the poultry industry," said Frank Perdue, chairman of the executive committee at Perdue Farms. "He put so much time and focus into this that even a year ago he was still coming up with ideas."

Using only a small coop he had fashioned from an old piano, Mr. Saglio began raising chickens while growing up on a fruit and vegetable farm in rural Connecticut.

His interest in breeding started when a friend said he wanted white-feathered chickens instead of the more unsightly dark ones.

Mr. Saglio soon bred a flock of completely white-feathered chickens, and went on to breed White Rocks that had extra meat, reached maturity quickly and laid more eggs. The bird was a hit, taking second place in the 1948 "A.&P. Chicken of Tomorrow" contest in Delaware.

He built on that early success by transforming his parents' farm, Arbor Acres, into what became a leader in poultry genetics for four decades. With operations in 21 countries, the company helped set off a poultry boom that sharply increased the meat's popularity and made it one of the least expensive meats.

"Back then chicken was probably the most expensive meat you could buy," said Richard Lobb, a spokesman for the National Chicken Council in Washington, which Mr. Saglio helped found in 1954. "Most people only ate it occasionally, like one night a week. The industry needed a bird that could produce a lot of meat and grow to market size quickly. By cutting down on production costs, Mr. Saglio came up with a more desirable product."

Today, the Department of Agriculture says, chicken consumption in this country stands at about 82.1 pounds per person, well above that of beef. In the early 1960's, Mr. Lobb said, Americans ate only 28 pounds per person a year.

Born in Glastonbury, Conn., in 1911, Mr. Saglio was the son of Italian immigrants.

Based on its success, Arbor Acres, his first company, earned backing from the International Basic Economy Corporation, which Nelson A. Rockefeller had started to promote economic activity in developing countries. I.B.E.C. bought Arbor Acres in the 1960's, and Mr. Saglio stayed on for several years until starting Avian Farms International with his son, Robert.

"There was once a point where if you ate a commercially produced chicken, there was an 8 out of 10 chance that it was from an Arbor Acres breeding stock," Robert Saglio said.

Several years ago, Henry Saglio became one of the first breeders to stop using human antibiotics in chickens. Concerned about reports of widespread resistance to the drugs, he founded Pureline Genetics, a poultry breeding company for antibiotic-free chicken.

Mr. Saglio's wife, Florence Miller, died in 1971. Since 1981, he lived mainly lived in Marathon, Fla., but he also had homes in Watch Hill, R.I., and Glastonbury.

In addition to his son, Robert, of Watch Hill, and a daughter, Janet, of Newton, Mass., Mr. Saglio is survived by a brother, Hugo, of Bloomfield, Conn.; a sister, Frances Dogan of Falls Church, Va.; and five grandchildren.

Henry Saglio, 92, ’Father’ of Poultry Industry, Dies
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/21/national/21SAGL.html