In memoriam: Charlie Summers

Charles Geddes Summers, UC Davis emeritus entomologist, passed away on Aug. 12 from acute respiratory failure in his hometown of Clinton, Utah. He was 79. 

Summers earned bachelor's and master's degrees in zoology and entomology respectively at Utah State University in Logan, Utah, and a doctorate degree in entomology at Cornell University in 1970, the same year he joined the UC Berkeley faculty and began working at Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center. He later moved to UC Davis.

“The job at Kearney was an absolutely perfect fit for me,” Summers said 42 years later when he retired in 2012. “It was a dream job. I look forward to coming to work every morning and would sometimes shake my fist at the sun going down at night. I've loved every minute I've been here.”

Although Summers had an Agricultural Experiment Station appointment, he made a point of working with UC Cooperative Extension farm advisors and specialists to deliver pest-management research results to farmers.

“Extension work has been one of the most enjoyable things I've done,” he said. “I've worked with farm advisors on research projects, farm calls and given hundreds and hundreds of extension talks at their grower meetings.”

Reflective mulches were a unique and effective pest-management strategy introduced by Summers and his longtime research partner, Jim Stapleton, UC Cooperative Extension integrated pest management advisor.

Stapleton shared the following memories of working with Summers.

Charlie Summers As I Knew Him

By James Stapleton

I first connected with Charlie when I was transitioning to my new job as IPM Plant Pathologist at the Kearney Agricultural Center in 1990. I knew him casually at first, as one of several entomologist colleagues at that time on our Kearney faculty. However, later in 1991, my lab crew and I were out in the field applying an experimental, sprayable bed mulch product and painting the mulched beds silver. At one point, Charlie pulled up to the edge of the field in his car, and after watching us for a few minutes, got out and walked over to me to ask what we were doing. I told him we were doing product feasibility testing and one of the potential applications was vegetable crop virus control using reflective bed mulch. He asked if we were working with an entomologist and after my negative reply, he indicated that he would be interested in becoming a collaborator on the project. Little did we know at that time that we would spend the next 15+ years in nearly daily contact as close collaborators and friends.

I believe our friendship was deepened when we discovered that both of us had historical family ties to Ogden, Utah, a formerly rough-and-tumble frontier and railroad town. We often shared anecdotes and old family photos of times gone by. 

Our labs meshed well right from the beginning – Charlie's lab was run by staff research associate Albert Newton, and I had an excellent lab crew with future UCCE advisors Roger Duncan, Tom Turini, and a little later, Ruth Dahlquist-Willard. Over the years, Charlie was absolutely top-notch as a field entomologist and project co-director. Under his leadership, Charlie's teams were always highly motivated, organized, and productive. We published our first collaborative research report in 1992.

In 1995, I started teaching plant pathology courses part-time at nearby Fresno State, which provided the opportunity to bring many students out to Kearney to do internships, independent studies, and thesis projects on various aspects of pest management and agronomy. They would be assigned to conduct research for both of our labs, and they received excellent training on the field projects. Over the years we trained dozens of students.

Charlie and I initiated our collaboration to evaluate reflective, sprayable bed mulches. It did not take long to confirm that they were quite effective at repelling insects and providing control of plant viruses. Our findings struck a chord, and we soon began to garner grant funding to study additional facets of light-mediated insect repulsion and plant virus control. Later, we began looking at effects of various cover crop mulches, and Kearney-based cropping systems specialist Jeff Mitchell joined our group in the late 1990s, to focus on the agronomic aspects of the work. 

Before we ended our active work, shortly before Charlie's retirement, we had published more than 35 reports and research papers, conducted dozens of outreach trainings, and had our work highlighted in numerous news outlets including the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and by national radio commentator Paul Harvey on his Noon News and Comment broadcast. 

I was deeply honored, as I'm sure Jeff Mitchell was, that Charlie chose to recognize our collaboration when he received the Entomology Society of America's C.W. Woodworth Award in 2009. Charlie sometimes presented a somewhat gruff exterior persona, but once you got to know him you realized that he was a very compassionate and caring man. I always looked forward to receiving Charlie's annual, tongue-in-cheek Christmas e-mail he sent out to everyone at Kearney – “Bah, Humbug to All!”

It was with great pleasure and satisfaction that I had the privilege of working closely with Charlie (and Jeff) for many years. We had a great time and we motivated each other to be highly productive. My memories of Charlie will always be very special to me.

For more about Summers' life, see his obituary at https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/charles-summers-obituary?id=6302785.

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