AMADAS Industries Stanley A. Brantley, Jr. Memorial Scholarship

AMADAS Industries has partnered with the Suffolk Foundation to launch a scholarship program in memory of Dr. Stanley A. Brantley, an innovator and leader who worked in agricultural machinery and engineering in Western Tidewater and around the world.

A native of Wakefield, Virginia, Dr. Brantley studied mechanical engineering, earning his BS and MS from Virginia Tech, and his PhD from NC State. In 1976 he went to work for Hobbs-Adams Engineering Company (today known as AMADAS), where he eventually became head of engineering and later the company’s president. At AMADAS, he led the team that developed the world’s first self-propelled, eight-row peanut combine, as well as many other innovations in peanut harvesting, edible bean harvesting, irrigation, and organic material recycling.

Dr. Brantley had deep connections to his native soil: a member of Rocky Hock United Methodist Church, the Wakefield Ruritan Club, the Paul D. Camp Community College board, and the Surry County Board of Social Services, Dr. Brantley gave back to the communities where he was raised and where he raised his family. Yet his impact went far beyond Western Tidewater and even beyond our country. In 1980, Dr. Brantley traveled to China in one of the first delegations that opened agricultural relations between the People’s Republic and the United States. Perhaps his impact in Argentina was even greater, where his many trips to that country revolutionized Argentine peanut production and harvesting systems.

“He always thought it was so important that agriculture helped bring people together in a common way to improve humanity,” said his son Jason Brantley to the Suffolk News-Herald in 2014. Dr. Brantley also believed in education and felt that it was “the key to a better life and better world for each of us.” It’s fitting that the scholarship in his name will help make education a little more accessible for students who aspire to work in his field.

The AMADAS Industries Stanley A. Brantley, Jr. Memorial Scholarship is open to graduating high school, college, and trade school students from Suffolk, Franklin, Southampton County, Isle of Wight County, Sussex County, Surry County, or Gates County (NC) who plan to study engineering, agricultural technology, or a manufacturing-related skilled trade, such as welding or machining. It’s also open to past AMADAS interns from any area, who may be given preference for this scholarship. This includes individuals who participated in the Junior Welding or the Junior Engineering program.