Posts Tagged: In memoriam

In memoriam: Lowell Lewis

 

Lowell N. Lewis, UC ANR associate vice president emeritus and professor emeritus at UC Riverside, passed away on July 17, 2020. He recently celebrated his 89^th birthday, but had been in declining health for some months.

 

Lewis received his education at Pennsylvania State University and Michigan State University prior to joining the faculty in the Department of Horticultural Science at UC Riverside in 1960. His academic fields were biochemistry and horticulture and his research during the 1960s and beyond focused on the role of gibberellins in promoting citrus color. He also worked extensively on determination of the roles of plant hormones and cellulase in abcission. In 1971, he was named research dean in the College of Agricultural and Biological Sciences, a precursor of the current College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences. In 1981, he was appointed director of the California Agricultural Experiment Station and assistant vice president in the UC Office of the President. In 1986, he was advanced to associate vice president. He formally retired from the university in 1991.

 

Following retirement, he served as a research consultant to the Agricultural Minister of Egypt and in 1994 began an extended period of additional service to UC, functioning as the University's liaison with the Catalonian (Spain) Institute of Agricultural Research and Technology. He was instrumental in establishing a technology transfer agreement with the Catalonian Institute and also a program of student and faculty exchange in honor of Gaspar de Portola, California's first governor who was born and raised in Catalonia. He also served on the Advisory Board of the Rosenberg International Forum on Water Policy and as a special advisor to the Chair of the Forum. During this period, he took up residence in Barcelona, Spain, where he remained until two years ago.

 

During his career, Lowell Lewis received many honors and awards. Among them were membership in the California Academy of Science, election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the recipient of a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship. He was also nominated to participate in the Senior Executive Program at the Harvard Institute for Educational Management.

 

At the time of his death, Lewis resided in Irvine, Calif. He his survived by his three children Beth Marsh, Brad Lewis, Nancy Hermansen and several grandchildren.

 

In memoriam: George Goodall

George Goodall, emeritus UCCE farm advisor and county director, passed away June 22, 2020, at age 98. 

A fourth-generation Southern Californian, Goodall grew up on a diversified farm in Canoga Park. After serving four years in the Army Corps of Engineers during World War II, he earned a degree in subtropical horticulture from UCLA in 1947. Goodall was hired the same year as a UCCE subtropical fruit farm advisor for Ventura County, then in 1951 moved to serve Santa Barbara County as a farm advisor specializing in avocados, citrus, walnuts and wine grapes. He later earned a master's degree in agricultural economics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. In 1974, he became director of UCCE in Santa Barbara County until he retired in 1987.

“George was instrumental in the creation of the Williamson Act and in establishing the avocado industry amongst a lot of other things,” said Ben Faber, UCCE subtropical crops advisor for Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

“As important as his knowledge and experience, it was his manner, attitude, personality, sense of humor, etc. that made him an ideal Extension agent,” Faber said. “He was equally comfortable in the world of academia as he was in the real world of farming and people. And he loved good food, a good bottle of wine and good company. I'll never forget his laugh and his stories. He and John Evans and Bud Lee were like the three musketeer county directors who were all excellent extension administrators and at the same time outstanding farm advisors.”

In 1972, Goodall received the Award of Honor of the California Avocado Society. Among other industry honors, he received the Distinguished Service Award from the California Chapter of the Soil Conservation Society of America, the Commendation Award from the Soil Conservation Society of America, and a gold watch from Calavo Growers of California.

During his career, he authored nearly 30 papers on avocado production and many more papers on subtropical fruits.

He was a member of the American Society for Horticulture Science, the American Agricultural Economics Association, the Soil Conservation Society of America, and was a past president of the California Chapter of the Soil Conservation Society of America. A member of the California Avocado Society since 1949, he also belonged to the Lemon Men's Club, The California Citrus Nurserymen's Society, and the Santa Barbara County Farm Bureau.

According to his family, Goodall once bestowed a Medal of Honor to former Governor Ronald Reagan for soil conservation.

After retiring from UC, Goodall did agricultural consulting in the Mediterranean, Latin America and Africa. He also became active in the Santa Barbara Rotary Club and his local genealogical society, tracing his ancestry to the origins of man and giving presentations on genealogy.

Goodall is survived by his wife Jeanne, son Stephen (Jane), grandchildren Emily (Cheyne) and Jason and great grandchildren Lyndee and Jaxton O'Gorman.

 

In memoriam: Betty Hewitt

Betty Hewitt, UC Cooperative Extension home economist advisor emerita in El Dorado County, passed away April 8 at age 92.

After graduating with a bachelor's degree in home economics from Colorado A&M College, Hewitt served three years in the WAVES as a laboratory technologist in San Diego and Hawaii during World War II. 

In 1947, Hewitt began her UC Cooperative Extension career as a home demonstration agent in Sonoma County. In 1949, Hewitt became the first woman home economist and a founder of 4-H in El Dorado County, which is celebrating its 100-year anniversary. As the UCCE 4-H advisor, Hewitt expanded the program to serve more than 10,000 4-H members in countywide 4-H clubs over the years until her retirement in 1982. She also taught families nutrition, cooking, sewing, homemaking and personal finances.

“Numerous newspaper articles chronicling Betty's work and achievements, dated from as early as 1949 can be found in archive scrap books preserved at the county UCCE office,” wrote her niece, Lorraine Larsen-Hallock, an active 4-H volunteer and 4-H alumna. “Betty did not have children of her own, but always considered the 4-H youth as her children, to be nurtured through the 4-H program to help them become future leaders.” 

Read more about Hewitt's life at https://www.mtdemocrat.com/obituaries/betty-hewitt.

UC ANR supporters give over $85,000 on #GivingTuesday

Thanks to everyone who participated, UC ANR's #GivingTuesday campaign was a tremendous success.

“We surpassed our goal of $60,000, raising $85,168,” said Mary Maffly Ciricillo, director of Annual Giving and Individual Gifts. “This is close to a 24 percent increase over last year's Giving Tuesday total of $68,322.”

As an added incentive to potential donors, ANR received over $37,000 in donations toward match challenge funds supporting all of UC ANR programs.

The California 4-H Foundation alone brought in over $32,000. Compared to 2016, there was a 250 percent increase in giving to UC ANR programs – including Master Gardeners, Master Food Preservers, IPM, the REC System, and county offices – totaling over $15,000.

The number of gifts received also rose, from 224 gifts in 2016 to 318 gifts this year. “We even received a gift designated to urban horticulture!” Ciricillo said.

In addition to raising money, the #GivingTuesday social media campaign helped raise the visibility of ANR programs. The Master Gardener Program team made a video of the unselfies posted on social media by their supporters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xI_tVcNhBcQ.

“We appreciate everyone's cooperation in this fundraising effort and hope we can continue to build on our success for the next #GivingTuesday,” Ciricillo said. “These private funds will help us expand UC ANR's reach.”

Below is a list of funds donors selected to receive Giving Tuesday their gifts:

ANR - Master Gardener Annual Giving Fund

Alameda County Master Gardener Endowment Fund

Elkus Ranch Fund

San Mateo - 4-H Program - Various Donors

Statewide Master Gardener Endowment Fund

Sacramento County UCCE - Master Gardener Fund

Los Angeles County UCCE Fund

Orange County UCCE Fund

El Dorado County UCCE - Rangeland Fund

San Mateo/San Francisco UCCE - Master Gardener Fund

ANR - Giving Tuesday Match Fund

San Mateo County UCCE - MG Greenhouse

KREC - Kearney REC - Fund

SFREC - Sierra Foothill Research and Extension Center Fund

Sonoma County UCCE - Citizen Science Projects

"urban horticulture"

Los Angeles County UCCE - Master Gardeners

LREC - Lindove Field Station

El Dorado County UCCE - Master Gardeners - Various Dnrs

San Mateo/SF UCCE - Master Food Preserver

Fresno County UCCE

4-H Undesignated

"REC System"

Riverside County UCCE - Master Gardeners

Sutter-Yuba Counties UCCE - Master Gardeners

Merced County UCCE - Master Gardener Fund

UC California Naturalist Program

Ventura County UCCE - Master Gardener Fund

HREC - Hopland REC - Fund

"Marin Master Gardeners Opportunity Fund"

IPM - Program Fund

4-H Foundation UC Donor Funds

DREC - Desert REC FARM SMART Fund

Merced County Agriculture Extension and Research Endowment

Alameda County UCCE - Master Gardeners

UCCE Master Gardeners of Orange County

Orange County UCCE - Master Food Preserver Fund

Kern - 4-H Program - Various Donors

Colusa County UCCE - Master Gardener Program

Central Sierra - UCCE

Ventura County UCCE Fund

"Ventura County Master Gardeners"

San Joaquin County UCCE - Master Gardener Fund

ANR - California Naturalist Scholarship Fund

Statewide Program - Nutrition, Family and Consumer Sciences Program

ANR Informatics and GIS Fund

Nutrition Policy Institute General Fund

Plumas County UCCE - Project Learning Tree

ANR - Master Food Preservers Fund

California Institute for Water Resources

San Mateo County UCCE Fund

Santa Barbara County 4-H - Various Donors

Contra Costa County UCCE Fund

 

See a sneak preview of UC ANR home page’s refreshed design

You are invited to review the new ucanr.edu design refresh.

Strategic Communications now has a Website Redesign Feedback survey that offers an opportunity for additional input. You'll find links to the proposed designs for desktop, tablet and smart phone. It shows the website interactions and a survey, where you can rate various elements of the website project and offer open-ended comments and ideas, at http://ucanr.edu/survey/survey.cfm?surveynumber=22172.

Please submit your feedback by Friday, Dec. 1.