Dr. Wilbert A. Russell (1922-2014)
RUSSELL, AMBRICK, TAYLOR, ROUTLEDGE
Posted By: Mark Christian
Date: 5/10/2014 at 10:22:39
Obituary From Adams Soderstrum Funeral Home, Story County, Iowa.
Dr. Wilbert A. Russell, 91, passed away April 6, 2014 at the Green Hills retirement Community in Ames. Dr. Russell was born August 3, 1922, to Bernard and Emma J. (Ambrick) Russell in the small farming community of Lenore, Manitoba, Canada. He graduated first in his class with a B.A. degree from the University of Manitoba in 1942. He married Dorothy Taylor on July 17, 1943 in Winnipeg, Canada.
During WWII, Wilbert (“Russ”) served as a navigator in the Royal Canadian Air Force, primarily protecting against enemy submarines and fire balloons off the coast of British Columbia. After the war, he obtained M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in plant breeding from the University of Minnesota, and also worked for the Canadian Agriculture Research Service in Morden, Manitoba on the genetic improvement of both sunflowers and corn.
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In 1952, he moved to Ames to accept a position as an assistant professor in corn breeding in the Agronomy Department at Iowa State University. He became a full professor in 1962 and worked in the Department of Agronomy full-time for 37 consecutive years until his retirement in 1989.Dr. Russell had the responsibility at Iowa State for the development and release of corn inbreds for the Iowa Agricultural Research Station. The most well-known of the many inbreds he developed is B73, which was released in 1972. B73 was used widely for many years in the production of commercial corn hybrids not only in the United States but also in several foreign countries.
Dr. Russell taught a graduate-level course in plant breeding at Iowa State for over 30 years and during this time served as the major adviser for 56 graduate students. He also advised and provided advanced training in plant breeding to numerous visiting international plant breeders.
Dr. Russell published alone, or in collaboration with other researchers and/or graduate students, 160 peer-reviewed scientific papers. For this work he received worldwide recognition and was the recipient of numerous awards. He was named a Fellow of both the American Society of Agronomy and the Crop Science of America. In 1984 he was named a Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor in Agriculture at Iowa State University. In 2008 an endowed chair was established in the Agronomy Department in his honor.
On July 17, 2013, Dr. Russell and his wife Dorothy celebrated their 70 wedding anniversary. Dr. Russell is survived by Dorothy, a current resident at Green Hills in Ames; sons Bernard (Robin) Russell, of Seattle, Washington; Barry (Lu Ann) Russell, of Johnston, Iowa; and Ken (Joyce) Russell, of Lincoln, Nebraska; five grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren, and a sister, Irene (Elgin) Routledge, Virden, Manitoba. He was preceded in death by his parents, three brothers, and four sisters.
Memorial contributions may be made to Green Hills Health Care Center or to a memorial of the donor’s choice.
APR 10 Memorial Service 10:00AM
First United Methodist Church
516 Kellogg Avenue
Ames, IA, US
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