Number 2 - 2004 - Acta Horticulturae

In Memoriam
DAVID ROBINSON (1928 -
2004)
A great oak toppled
in late March when
David Willis Robinson
died. The relative
suddenness of his
passing was a surprise
to his family,
many friends and
colleagues. Charged
with a zest for life,
David Robinson David somehow
seemed destined to
maintain his busy
schedule for many years to come. One of the
finest horticulturists of his era, his reputation as
an inspiring influence was widely recognised.
The core of his career was spent as research
director at the National Horticultural Research
Centre, Kinsealy, Dublin. Mixing the practical
with the theoretical, David stewarded an energetic
and progressive research programme in
the many facets of horticulture at Kinsealy and
its sister top and soft fruit stations in Ballygagin
and Clonroche, over many years. With great
personal skills, he initiated new programmes
and consolidated already established horticultural
activities at these Centres during a period
when the acquisition of essential funding for
horticultural research was an ongoing struggle.
David participated as an external examiner in
all major universities, teaching horticulture in
the UK and the Republic winning the respect of
students for his knowledge and fairness.
Always reasonable, David was a formidable
and logical debater. His questioning mind often
laid bare accepted myth and consequently his
progress in the field of weed control, his lifelong
study, quickly gained international recognition.
He was influential in transforming the
approach to weed control in the commercial
production of top fruit and soft fruit, not to
mention his mastery in the sequential use of
chemicals for the control of weeds in nursery
stock and general ornamental plantations.
Appointments, honours and awards flowed in
his direction. His early horticultural work, after
very successful studies at Reading and Cornell
Universities, found him in an Advisory capacity
in South Down. A few years later, he was
appointed as a research worker at the
Horticultural Centre, Loughall, where much of
his pioneering efforts in weed control were
developed. In this time he gained a PhD in
Weed Science at Queen’s University, Belfast .
After a dozen years here, during which time a
burgeoning reputation was gaining momentum,
he was appointed to his position at
Kinsealy. Apart from his administrative and
research programme duties, he found time to
advise several overseas countries on the establishment
of horticultural programmes during
missions funded by the FAO and the
Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin. His
great strength of logic, unbridled enthusiasm
and skill in implementing agreed procedures
was a great boon to horticultural personnel in
the developing countries where he was advising.
Since his retirement in 1988, he became
well established as a broadcaster and branched
out into hosting long-haul garden tours.
Sojourns of six week intervals between 1993 to
1998 were spent at the Humboldt University in
Berlin, where David lectured whilst developing
a course in urban horticulture.
David joined the ISHS as a member in 1966.
He was soon appointed Council member and
became involved as Vice Chairman of the
Commission Plant Substrates, Vice Chairman
of the Commission Urban Horticulture to
become Chairman of this group later on. He
was one of the earliest to recognise the urban
dimensions of horticulture as compared with
its more traditional role in rural society. He was
a key player in ISHS helping to steer it through
troubled times and into the vigorous and
robust organisation of today. David’s internationalist
approach was typified by the list of 60
countries with which he worked in an UN Food
and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) programme.
He received the Gold Veitch
Memorial Medal of the Royal Horticultural
Society, was made Fellow of the ASHS, and
Honorary Member of the ISHS in recognition
of his achievements in horticultural science and
education. In addition he became a Fellow of
countless other horticultural societies and
organizations.
These honours, prestigious in their own right,
can often obscure facets of the recipient which
are just as worthy of elucidation. Despite all of
the honours conferred upon him, David
remained an essentially modest man. He had
no difficulty finding time to help and encourage
students and colleagues - in fact anyone
seeking advice (especially horticultural
advice!).
The loss of David will be keenly felt by his wife
Muriel and daughter Karen, son Ivan and their
children.
Jim Kelly with the assistance of Geoff Dixon and Michael
J. Hennerty
DALE EMMERT KESTER
(1922 – 2003)
Dr. Dale Emmert Kester, Professor Emeritus for
the University of California, Davis died on
November 21, 2003. Dale was born July 28,
1922 on his family’s farm in Ross, Iowa.
He was the third eldest of seven children. He
was preceded by his wife Daphne, who died in
2000 after 54 years of marriage. He leaves
behind his son William, daughter Nancy, and
five grandchildren.
His lifelong interest in horticulture began along
side his mother in her vegetable garden. This
interest led Dale to enrol as a horticulture student
at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa in
1941. His college career was interrupted in
1943 when Dale joined the war effort as a U.S.
Air Force pilot. He received his wings in 1944
after training in Texas before becoming a P-51
Mustang fighter pilot. As World War II pilot,
Dale escorted bombers on 28 missions over
Italy and Central Europe. Following the war,
Dale returned to Iowa State University and
completed his horticulture degree in 1947.
Dale met his future wife, Daphne Dougherty,
while he was stationed in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana. Daphne was a USO dancer at the
time. They were married in July, 1946.
Together they moved to Davis, California to
accept a graduate research assistant position at
the University. Dale was the first graduate student
in the Pomology Department following
the war. He received his M.S. (Horticulture)
and Ph.D. (Plant Physiology) degrees from UC
Davis. His Ph.D. dissertation concerned
embryo culture of peaches. In 1951, he was
offered an Assistant Professor position in the
Department of Pomology at UC Davis where
his work was to focus on almond production
and breeding. This was the position he would
hold until his retirement 40 years later in 1991.
Dale taught undergraduate plant propagation
and pomology courses. Early in his career, he
partnered with Dr. Hudson Hartmann to publish
“Plant Propagation – Principles and
CHRONICA HORTICULTURAE •VOL 44 • NUMBER 2 • 2004 • 43