Mike Freeze knew at an early age that he wanted to work with fish and wildlife. He was born in Pine Bluff; his family moved to Little Rock when he was five. Freeze graduated from Little Rock Hall High School.

Freeze decided to attend Arkansas Tech University at Russellville because it offered a major in fisheries and wildlife management. After graduating from Tech in 1975, he headed to Kentucky to obtain a master's degree in biology from Murray State University.

He returned to Arkansas in 1977 and took a job as a research biologist for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. By the time Freeze left AGFC in 1983, he had become recognized as one of the top fisheries biologists in the South. On March 28, Freeze will enter the Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame.

Since the hall's first class was inducted in 1987, 192 men and women have been honored for their contributions to Arkansas' largest economic sector.

Since 1986, Freeze has been an owner of Keo Fish Farms in Lonoke County, the nation's largest producer of hybrid striped bass fry and fingerlings. Freeze and his employees also produce sterile triploid grass carp on the 1,000-acre farm. I've always thought of Freeze as more than a fish farmer. He's a problem-solver and a leading advocate of Arkansas agriculture.

I worked in Republican politics with Freeze's father-in-law, the late Len Blaylock, before I knew Freeze. I now see how many........

© El Dorado News Times