Kerry Doughty, the immediate past chairman of the National Turkey Federation (NTF) and former CEO of Butterball LLC, died Tuesday after a battle with cancer. He was 66.
Doughty was president and CEO of Butterball until his diagnosis in 2018. A native of Indianapolis, he graduated from Thomas Howe High School in Indianapolis and attended classes at Indiana University-Perdue University, but soon joined Dura Containers, where he found his calling in sales.
Shortly after, he followed his father into the food industry. In 1982, a call from Wilson Foods began a series of increasingly responsible sales and marketing positions, including posts at Kretschmar Brands in St. Louis; Loveland Foods, in Loveland, Colo., where he sold Old Timer Bacon and Ham; Fast Food Merchandisers (Hardee’s Food Systems) in Rocky Mount, N.C.; and GolPak, an FFM subidiary later acquired by Perdue Farms.
He remained with Perdue Farms in Brentwood, Tenn., until he joined Butterball as executive vice president of sales, marketing and research and development in 2007 and moved to the Raleigh, N.C., area. Doughty was promoted to president and CEO of Butterball in 2014.
Doughty made close friends of business associates and acquaintances along the way with his penchant for hard work and thoughtful consideration of others. He held numerous board positions and most recently, as 2019 chairman of the NTF, presented the National Thanksgiving Turkey to the President and First Lady during the pardoning ceremony at the White House. At the completion of his term, Doughty was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the NTF at its convention in Nashville on Feb. 15, 2020.
He is survived by his wife of 41 years, Jan Doughty, and three children, Brooke Huber (Daniel), Devin Doughty (Ashley), and Reece Doughty (Stephanie), and two grandsons, Noah and Owen Huber. Other survivors include three sisters and one brother. He was predeceased by his father, Richard (2005), mother, Jeri (2019), and sister, Teresa Doughty (2016). At Doughty’s request, a Celebration of Life will be held in Cary, N.C., and in Indianapolis, both at a later date.