Thanking a fantastic Dairy Foods columnist after 21 years

Health and Wellness author Sharon Gerdes pens her final column this month.

Photo courtesy of kazuma seki via gettyimages.com.

I want to devote much of my editorial space this month to thank Sharon Gerdes, author of the “Health and Wellness” column, for everything she has done for Dairy Foods during the past 21 years. Gerdes wrote her first article for Dairy Foods in 2003 as the “Dairy Detective” on the topic of “Trans Fatty Acids in Dairy,” and has not looked back since.

“For the past 21 years, it has been my pleasure to write about dairy, taste new dairy creations, visit dairy farms, and travel the world speaking about dairy,” Gerdes writes. During her retirement, she will be focusing on her family and other pursuits. It’s been my pleasure to shepherd her excellent columns during my two-and-a-half years at Dairy Foods.

Please make sure you check out Gerdes’ final column this month on lactose-free dairy. You can also check Gerdes’ prior columns on www.dairyfoods.com. If you plug in “Sharon Gerdes” in the Search function at the top right of the website, there are 15 pages worth of her articles right at your fingertips. This includes Gerdes’ aforementioned first column, posted on October 26, 2003, when she answers the question, “What is the trans fatty acid content of dairy foods and dairy ingredients, and what does it mean for processors and ingredient manufacturers?”

While Sharon will be greatly missed, our Health and Wellness column is not going anywhere. Gerdes reached out to me via email earlier this year notifying me she had the perfect person to take on the mantle. “I’m happy to be turning the column over to the very capable Mary Wilcox,” Gerdes wrote in that email.

Gerdes’ final words in her column this month read: “My friend and extremely capable colleague Mary Wilcox will be assuming the role of Health and Wellness columnist for Dairy Foods magazine. Thanks to Dairy Foods magazine for a wonderful 21 years. I wish all our readers good health and wellness in all aspects of their life.”

I am truly pleased Gerdes selected a wonderful successor. Wilcox, founder of Significant Outcomes LLC, an Ohio-based consultancy providing technical and business expertise spanning both the dairy and food industries, has already written some columns for Dairy Foods. In the May 2024 issue, she penned “Cottage cheese is a dairy superstar,” and will write a new Health and Wellness column for our December issue and fully take over in 2025. Also, please listen as Wilcox shares her expertise during our popular “State of the Industry” webinar, scheduled for Nov. 13 at 2 p.m. Eastern time.

…On a different topic, for the November issue, I am going to hand over editor letter-writing duties to our publisher, Doug Peckenpaugh. Hence, I wanted to whet your appetite for the November issue before I sign off.

We are starting to work on the November issue now, which, like in the past, features our popular, annual State of the Industry articles. But this issue will be extra special, as Dairy Foods is celebrating its 125th anniversary. Dairy Foods has not had such a celebration since our centennial in 1999, so there is a lot of ground to cover. We hope it will be a treat for our readers to savor in the months and perhaps years ahead.

I can’t wait for the November issue to come out. But in the meantime, I hope you will read our October issue, cover-to-cover, of course.

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Brian Berk has been a writer and editor for 21 years. He has served as editor-in-chief of the Music & Sound Retailer and managing editor of Convenience Store News, both the top-circulated magazines in their respective fields. Berk has also held editing and writing roles in drug store retail, photography, and natural health products. Holding a bachelor’s degree from SUNY Cortland and a master’s degree from Quinnipiac University, Berk lives in Port Washington, N.Y., with his wife and two children.