Posts Tagged: obituary

Media mark the passing of ag giant J.G. Boswell

J.G. Boswell, the founder and head of the enormous family-owned farming concern J.G. Boswell Co., passed away last week at the age of 86. As an innovative cotton farmer in the San Joaquin Valley and influential advocate in land and water resource policy, Boswell's path often intersected with UC Cooperative Extension.  

Boswell inherited the company when he was 29 from his uncle, also named J.G. Boswell, according to an obituary published today in the Los Angeles Times. His farm spans 150,000 acres near the San Joaquin Valley town of Corcoran. In addition to farming, the company conducted an innovative research and development program, producing more productive seeds and making technological improvements to his gins that boosted their capacity to 400 bales of cotton a day.

UC Davis agricultural economist Richard Howitt told the Times that Boswell was also an innovative water user, one of the first to employ lasers to level fields so that water flowed evenly and efficiently. Careful water management, including employing agronomists to determine when and how to water, allowed Boswell's farms to produce more cotton with less water than competitors, Howitt told Times reporter Jerry Hirsch. Many of Boswell's techniques were later adopted by other farms.

J.G. Boswell was a friend to UC Cooperative Extension. His company's foundation is listed as a major contributor to the 4-H program and it provided land for UC research projects, such as a study underway in the late 1990s to determine whether agricultural drainage water can be cleaned using flow-through wetlands, as described in this UC Cooperative Extension news release. These weren't his only philanthropic endeavors. In fact, the former country director for UC Cooperative Extension in Kings County, Bruce Roberts, is now an agronomy professor in the J.G. Boswell-endowed chair in plant science at California State University, Fresno.

Google News lists 51 media outlets including a news obituary about J.G. Boswell's death, including:

• Fresno Bee: Titan of Valley agriculture Boswell dead at age 86
• Visalia Times-Delta: Local grower J.G Boswell II dies
• San Jose Mercury-News: JG Boswell II, king of Calif. cotton, dies at 86

Gary Rush obituary in the Record-Searchlight

The Redding Record-Searchlight ran an obituary today for retired UC Cooperative Extension county director Gary Rush. Rush was also a community development advisor emeritus. According to the story, Rush, 73, suffered an accident some weeks ago and succumbed to his injuries on Saturday, Jan. 24.

Rush retired from his post in the UCCE Shasta-Trinity office in 1993, after 30 years of service to the Northern California community.

"Gary was educated and wise in life as well as books. He was insightful, intelligent, ambitious, patriotic and just one heck of a good guy," the obituary said.

Friends and acquaintances may contact the family at (530) 275-4704.

Sad coincidence in Napa viticulture

The St. Helena Star reported today on a sad coincidence for the Napa County viticulture industry. Within the last year, the three men who have held the position of Napa County UC Cooperative Extension viticulture advisor since 1952 passed away.

• Jim Lider, farm advisor from 1952 to 1972, died Nov. 19, 2007
• Keith Bowers, farm advisor from 1972 to 1987, died May 21, 2008
• Ed Weber, farm advisor from 1988 to 2007, died December 31, 2007.

The story focused on the most recent passing, that of Bowers last month. The article noted that Bowers was chosen Farm Advisor of the Year in 1984, when he also was named president of the California Association of Farm Advisors. He co-authored the “Outstanding Paper of the Year” in viticulture for the American Society of Enologists in 1978, with Lider and N. Ferrari.

Placerville blog runs obituary on retired UCCE county director

A mountain community blog titled Placerville.info ran a 950-word obituary recently about retired El Dorado County UC Cooperative Extension director Dick Bethell. The post also included a 1,400-word article authored by Mr. Bethell titled "A pest control program for your home orchard."

The story says Mr. Bethell passed away May 24 at the age of 80. According to the blog, he moved to Placerville several years before pear decline wiped out the area's top horticultural crop. He developed programs to fight the disease and published Pear Pest Management, the first pest management manual for an agricultural crop.

A major accomplishment of his 36-year career with UCCE was formation of Apple Hill, the first ranch marketing program in Northern California and a major tourist draw, the obituary said. Mr. Bethell also oversaw planting of wine grape test plots at various foothill elevations and in 1967 persuaded enologists from UC Davis to produce wine from the crop. Successful tasting events ignited an El Dorado County wine industry that grew from 6 acres to more than 2,000 acres of vines and 50 wineries during his tenure, the story said.

A memorial service was held this week at the Boeger Winery.

The black and white photo shown with this post is from the El Dorado County UC Cooperative Extension Web site viticulture page.

Dick Bethell and El Dorado County agricultural commissioner Ed Delfino.

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