Charles M. Rick, Jr.,
Professor Emeritus of the University of California, Davis and the world's foremost
authority on tomato genetics, passed away peacefully in the early morning hours of Sunday,
May 5th. Known worldwide for his major scientific contributions as a plant
geneticist and botanist, the majority of Charlie Rick’s career focused on the genetic
variability of the tomato, especially the wild tomato species distributed widely in
western South America and the Galapagos Islands. In addition to the thorough studies
of tomato genes and chromosomes, he organized numerous plant-collecting expeditions to the
Andes to sample the wide range of genetic variation found in the wild species, but missing
from the modern domestic tomato. Crisscrossing this rugged terrain, he managed to
document and preserve an amazing diversity of tomato varieties with qualities such as
disease resistance that can be bred back into the tomato we know. In his later
years, Rick established and directed the C. M. Rick Tomato Genetics Resource Center at the
Davis campus of the University of California, which serves as a permanent bank of genetic
material for the tomato and other members of the nightshade family. This center
distributes seeds to scientists world-wide, and its holdings include genetic varieties
that have become extinct in the wild.
Born in Reading, Pennsylvania in 1915, Rick grew up working in
orchards and enjoying nature study in the Boy Scouts. He took his B.S. degree at
Penn State, where he met and married the late Martha Overholts, daughter of a well-known
faculty expert on mushrooms. Together they moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts where
he earned his Ph.D. at Harvard in 1940, concentrating on botany and plant genetics.
He had previously established California connections by working with the Burpee seed
company in Lompoc, and as soon as he finished at Harvard he joined the faculty of the
Vegetable Crops Department at Davis, where he remained for his career of more than 60
years. He taught temporarily at other universities throughout the world, and
remained active in the field of plant genetics until the age of 85, when health
difficulties interfered with greenhouse and lab work. In the course of his career,
Rick accumulated many honors, including membership in the National Academy of Sciences,
and recognition from dozens of universities and learned societies. His received the
Alexander von Humboldt Award, and was also the first recipient of the Filipo Maseri Florio
World Prize in Agriculture in 1997.
An
excellent lecturer, Rick was much sought after by universities who valued both his
rigorous science and his humor and flair for storytelling. A perennial favorite
involved his frustrations in trying to germinate wild tomato seeds collected from the
Galapagos Islands. The emerging mystery of how the plants reproduce in the wild was
only resolved after the seeds were ‘processed’ by passing through the digestive
track of a Galapagos tortoise, resulting in vigorous seedlings. Much of Rick’s
most fascinating work came from a firsthand perception of the plants’ roles in local
environments and their evolving reproductive strategies. Over time, Rick’s work on
tomato genetics established this plant as an important model organism in the era of
genomics.
Rick
taught and mentored generations of U.S. and international scientists in plant genetics.
His students went on to lead major research institutes, serve as ministers of
agriculture and other governmental roles, and become faculty at universities on every
continent. They have worked on studying and improving many major crops, including
rice, grapes, potatoes, and peppers. His children continued in academics; his daughter
Susan Baldi teaches anatomy and physiology at Santa Rosa Junior College, and his son John
is an archaeologist at Stanford. Three grandchildren and a great grandchild were his
greatest joys in his last years.
|