In memoriam: Vonny Barlow

Vonny Barlow. Photo by Patrick Cavanaugh

Vonny Barlow, former UC Cooperative Extension entomology and crop production advisor in Riverside County, passed away unexpectedly on Dec. 9 from a massive heart attack after being transported to a Palm Springs hospital. He was 55.

Barlow, a native of Mountain View, joined UC ANR in 2009 as an entomology and crop production advisor. He worked mostly in alfalfa, cotton, melons, lettuce and broccoli. For many years, he served as an affiliate integrated pest management advisor, the Entomology Workgroup co-chair and as an entomology project leader for 4-H in Riverside County.

Barlow volunteered with Winrock International, a non-profit organization that administers the Asia Farmer-to-Farmer Program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

“Under this program, he conducted training on ‘Improved Knowledge in Safe and Judicious Use and Handling of Pesticides' for agro-input retailers, input company and association representatives, and USAID-funded Agro-Inputs Project staff in five different locations, namely Barisal, Faridpur, Khulna, Dhaka and Jessore in Bangladesh,” said Sonia Rios, UCCE subtropical horticulture advisor for Riverside and San Diego counties.

In 2016, Barlow left UCCE Riverside County to conduct research with UCCE specialist Larry Godfrey, under whom he had studied as a UC Davis graduate student. He then started his own consulting business in Blythe.

“He was known well by growers for his expertise and friendliness," Rios said.

Prior to UC ANR, Barlow was a post-doctorate researcher at North Carolina State University evaluating the “whole-farm” approach to mating disruption used in apple orchards to manage codling moth and oriental fruit moth.

He earned a B.S. in biological sciences with special emphasis in entomology from California State University, San Jose, an M.S. in plant protection and pest management from UC Davis, and a Ph.D. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University. 

Barlow is survived by his mother Janice Barlow of San Jose and brother Cary Barlow, also of San Jose.

Funeral services will be held Dec. 28 in Palm Springs and are limited to five people due to public health orders for coronavirus reduction. If you would like to send condolences to Barlow's family, contact Rios at sirios@ucanr.edu.

Read more about Barlow's career at https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=44483.

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