Tag: obituary

Zhuang Qiaosheng passed away in Beijing on May 8, 2022, at the age of 105. He was the most celebrated wheat breeder in China and enjoyed a high reputation in the international community.

As a leader of Wheat Breeding Program at Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Zhuang developed 20 high-yielding and disease-resistant winter wheat varieties from 1947 to 1995, with a total planting area of 28 million hectares in achieving notable yield increase.

Zhuang served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) from 1984 to 1987. He made great contributions to the collaboration between CIMMYT and China, including the opening of the CIMMYT office in China and the establishment of a shuttle breeding project for improving scab resistance.

He did everything possible to enlarge CIMMYT activities in China before fully retiring in 2015.

He was a close friend to many CIMMYT staff, including the late distinguished scientist Sanjaya Rajaram. He also strongly recommended He Zhonghu, distinguished scientist and CIMMYT Country Representative for China, to work at CIMMYT as a postdoctoral fellow in 1990.

The CIMMYT community sends its deepest condolences to the Zhuang family.

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) sadly notes the passing of Byrd C. Curtis, former Director of the Global Wheat Program, on January 7. He was 95 years old and lived in Fort Collins, Colorado, USA, with his wife Eloise Curtis.

From his studies at Oklahoma State University to retiring after a fruitful international career with Colorado State University, Cargill Inc. and CIMMYT, he never got weary of sharing his passion for breeding better, tastier and sturdier wheat to improve peoples’ livelihoods.

He was an innovator at heart and his legacy will live on through Colorado State University’s wheat breeding program and the many wheat varieties he developed. Not only did he start Colorado State University’s wheat breeding program in 1963, but he also ensured that the varieties that were bred by his team reflected the needs of humanity for decades to come, such as the hard, red winter wheat variety named after himself.

Curtis worked at CIMMYT from 1982 and 1988 as Director of the Global Wheat Program. Together with his team, he worked to position CIMMYT as the leading international research-for-development and breeding organization for wheat for years to come.

“Byrd was very keen to build oral communication skills of scientists, which has been very helpful to me,” said Ravi Singh, Head of Global Wheat Improvement at CIMMYT. “He also initiated the Turkey-CIMMYT-ICARDA International Winter Wheat Improvement Partnership’s (IWWIP) winter wheat breeding program and even worked there in Turkey in his final year with CIMMYT to ensure it would take off well.”

Byrd was instrumental and showed tremendous foresight. IWWIP’s establishment in Turkey became first major breeding program within CGIAR that was hosted by a national program. He strongly supported the creation of the Wide Crossing Program. The synthetic wheat varieties developed in this program have had global impact on wheat improvement.

Aside from his remarkable technical legacy, Byrd had a knack for choosing the right people for the job. In the six years as Director of the Global Wheat Program, he hired scientists who held major roles in global wheat improvement: Ravi Singh, Distinguished Scientist and Head of Global Wheat Improvement; Wolfgang Pfeiffer, former leader of spring bread wheat, durum wheat, and triticale crop improvement; and Hans Braun, Director of the Global Wheat Program from 2004 to 2020.

“Byrd not only initiated the winter wheat program,” said former Global Wheat Program Director Hans Braun, who was hired by Byrd in 1983. “He was also director when the tropical wheat program was implemented in Thailand.” This program’s work increased yields up to 1.5 tons per hectare but ultimately did not convince Thai farmers. Nevertheless, Braun said, “One of the oddest experiences I’ve had was to see our winter wheat material from Turkey grown in the Thai jungle!”

After retiring from his professional life in 1991, Curtis and his wife Eloise moved back to Fort Collins, where his career started in the 1960s and where he will be remembered by his townspeople — and fellow athletes and gym-goers — for his determination and active lifestyle.

The CIMMYT community sends its deepest sympathies and wishes for peace to the Curtis family.

With sorrow we report the passing of Donald Winkelmann, who served as Director General of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) from 1985 to 1994.

During his tenure, CIMMYT expanded notably and gained recognition as a research center committed to sustainable agricultural development. Winkelmann successfully negotiated CIMMYT’s final status as a public international organization.

The Center’s first economist, Winkelmann arrived in 1972 to conduct and coordinate what became a landmark series of adoption studies on emerging maize and wheat technologies from CIMMYT. He established CIMMYT’s Economics program and served as its first director.

In his first address as Director General, he emphasized that, when competing against “new forces” and technological changes “the old personality of CIMMYT must endure — the commitment to excellence and action, and to the ideal of making things better.”

Winkelmann was appointed for a second term as Director General by the Board of Trustees in 1990.

On November 23, 1994, he received the Order of the Aztec Eagle — the highest distinction given to a foreigner by the Mexican government. During the award ceremony, the Under-Secretary of Foreign Relations of Mexico, Ambassador Andres Rozenthal, highlighted three stages of Winkelmann’s contributions to Mexico. First, as visiting professor of economics at the Post Graduate College (1966-1971), where he helped train Mexican agricultural economists with new tools and methodologies. Second, as founder and director of the Economics program at CIMMYT (1971-1985), where he addressed themes such as on-farm research and comparative advantage studies, generated research methodologies, and carried out training workshops in agricultural economics. Lastly, as Director General of CIMMYT (1985-1994), where he helped strengthen collaboration between CIMMYT and Mexican research institutions, while working on allocation of resources to research, strategic planning and research impacts.”

After retiring from CIMMYT in November 1994, Winkelmann accepted the appointment of Chair of the CGIAR’s Technical Advisory Committee (TAC).

The CIMMYT community sends its warmest condolences to the Winkelmann family.

Donald L. Winkelmann, Director General of CIMMYT from 1985 to 1994. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Donald L. Winkelmann, Director General of CIMMYT from 1985 to 1994. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Donald L. Winkelmann, Director General of CIMMYT from 1985 to 1994. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Director General Martin Kropff (left) and former Deputy Director General Marianne Bänziger (third from left) greet Donald Winkelmann and his wife Breege during a visit to the CIMMYT headquarters in October 2019. (Photo: CIMMYT)

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) sadly notes the passing of Maximino Alcalá de Stefano, former head of the center’s Wheat International Nurseries service, on August 27. He was 80 years old.

Fondly known as “Max” by friends and colleagues, Alcalá worked at CIMMYT from 1967 to 1992, coordinating wheat international nurseries during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The job included organizing nursery shipments to over 100 partners worldwide each year and collating, analyzing, and sharing results from the nurseries grown.

The printed international nursery report featured an introductory section that described the nurseries, the locations, the statistical analyses used, and an overview of the performance of the breeding lines tested, which comprised the best CIMMYT materials but also germplasm from other sources. The report also carried tables with full data from each location as well as summary tables.

“Max was instrumental in preparing and distributing the printed nursery results, now made available online but which continue to provide crucial input for breeding by CIMMYT and partners,” said Hans-Joachim Braun, director of CIMMYT’s Global Wheat Program. “He also helped start the international nursery database.”

A native of Mexico, Alcalá completed a bachelor’s in Science at the Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro in 1964 and a master’s at Texas A&M University in 1967. Alcalá pursued doctoral studies in wheat breeding at Oregon State University under the guidance of renowned OSU researcher Warren E. Kronstad, finishing in 1974.

His professional experience prior to CIMMYT included appointments at Mexico’s National Institute of Agricultural Research (INIA) and in the national extension services.

Later in his career, Alcalá supported wheat training at CIMMYT and helped coordinate visitors services at CIMMYT’s experimental station near Ciudad Obregón, in Mexico’s Sonora state.

The CIMMYT community sends its deepest sympathies and wishes for peace to the Alcalá family.

With sorrow we report the passing on June 14 of Anthony F. E. (Fred) Palmer, former maize agronomist and physiologist who contributed notably to the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) networking and capacity building during crucial periods.

A British national, Palmer joined CIMMYT as a post-doctoral fellow in 1968 and retired from the center in 1996. With undergraduate studies in Agronomy at the University of Reading, Palmer completed masters and doctoral degrees in Crop Physiology at Cornell University. His early years at CIMMYT headquarters included work in maize physiology, agronomy and training.

In 1972 Palmer moved to Pakistan, serving as a production agronomist in that key Green Revolution setting until 1978, when he returned to Mexico as a training officer. “Fred was a true gentleman as a researcher and trainer,” said Stephen Waddington, retired CIMMYT maize agronomist who worked with Fred in Africa. “He was a mentor and friend to many junior CIMMYT staff, including myself, and countless trainees and visiting scientists from partner countries.”

Capitalizing on his experience and accomplishments, in 1985 CIMMYT posted Palmer to Nairobi, Kenya, as the team leader of the East African Cereal Project, funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). During the project’s third phase, Palmer helped to establish and guide an entry-level crop management training program, in conjunction with the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) and Egerton University, targeting maize researchers from eastern and southern Africa. Based at the university’s Njoro campus, the effort included construction of training facilities and guest rooms and Palmer successfully prepared Egerton administrators and faculty to take over the program, according to Joel Ransom, a North Dakota State University professor who served as a CIMMYT maize agronomist in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

“Scores of young agronomists mastered the fundamentals of on-farm research through that program,” Ransom said. “Palmer’s mentoring, training, and leadership greatly advanced the professional development of African maize and wheat scientists.”

Matthew Reynolds, CIMMYT distinguished scientist and wheat physiologist, recalls talking to Palmer about the latter’s efforts to apply fledgling tools for measuring photosynthesis in the field, a topic in which he had specialized at Cornell. “Fred was a very kind and unassuming man who treated everyone with respect, qualities that made him a great training officer and a well-regarded colleague,” said Reynolds.

Palmer firmly believed that national partners needed the capacity to train staff, particularly those fresh out of university studies, strengthening both their knowledge and professional linkages.

“By bringing young scientists together and working with them as a multidisciplinary research team,” Palmer wrote in a report on CIMMYT training in eastern and southern Africa, “it is anticipated that these scientists will learn to value each other’s work as essential to successful research.”

The CIMMYT community sends its warmest condolences to the Palmer family.