The Celebration of Life and Legacy for UC Extension apiculturist emeritus Eric Mussen, held Aug. 28 in the Putah Creek Lodge, UC Davis, drew a capacity crowd who shared and applauded all facets of his life: family man, bee scientist,  athlete, angler, birder,  photographer, humorist and a singer (doo wop).

UC Davis distinguished professor Walter Leal produced and livestreamed the webinar, now posted on YouTube at https://youtu.be/Kj5NuQ_rBuo. 

Dr. Mussen, an internationally known 38-year California Cooperative Extension apiculturist and an invaluable member of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology faculty, died Friday, June 3 at age 78 from liver cancer. Known to all as “Eric,” he joined the UC Davis entomology department in 1976. Although he retired in 2014, he continued his many activities until a few weeks prior to his death. For nearly four decades, he drew praise as “the honey bee guru,” “the pulse of the bee industry" and as "the go-to person" when consumers, scientists, researchers, students, and the news media sought answers about honey bees.

See more information and images from the celebration on the Aug. 29th post of the Bug Squad blog.

The committee included Kathy Keatley Garvey, communications specialist, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology; Professor Leal of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology and a former chair of the then Department of Entomology; Nora Orozco, chief administrative officer, Phoenix Cluster, Department of Entomology and Nematology and the Department of Plant Pathology; Sabrina Oranchek, academic personnel specialist, Phoenix Cluster; Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator, Bohart Museum of Entomology; and Amina Harris, director of the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center.