Jerold “Jerry” Apps (1934-) was born and raised on a farm in central Wisconsin.
He is an educator, editor and writer, with a focus on rural Wisconsin. He is best known for
his agricultural histories and Wisconsin-centric novels. Apps completed his bachelor's
(1955), master's (1957), and doctoral (1967) degrees at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
He was a UW-Extension county agent from 1957 to 1962. He taught for thirty years in
continuing education for UW-Extension and is a professor emeritus in the UW College of
Agriculture and Life Sciences. Apps has taught writing courses on the UW-Madison campus and
around the state. He has also given speeches through the United States and Canada. He served
both on the board and as president of the National Extension Leadership Development Program.
Jerry Apps has written more than 40 fiction and non-fiction books including 20 published by
the Wisconsin Historical Society Press including Wisconsin
Agriculture: A History (2015) and the 50th anniversary edition of his first book
The Land Still Lives (2019). Apps was also an editor for
UW-Extension and at the McGraw-Hill Book Company. For more information on Jerry Apps see his
website at: https://jerryapps.com
