Each day it's important to value the folks around you.
This week, Dr. Larry Teuber passed away after a long courageous battle with cancer. Larry started as an Assistant Professor in at UC Davis on December 7, 1977 and his appointment continued until his last day. He had his boots on. He was the alfalfa breeder and geneticist for alfalfa at UC Davis, and director of the California Crop Improvement Association.
Larry was instrumental in contributing to the plant breeding of alfalfa, having released numerous key non-dormant alfalfa germplasm sources which have been used by private companies, and, more recently, several widely-grown alfalfa varieties: UC Impalo WF and UC Highline. He was active in the National Variety Review Board, North American Alfalfa Improvement Conference, and other groups. He was the key player in determining measurements and biology of fall dormancy and other descriptors for alfalfa, as well as the physiology of alfalfa growth as influenced by daylength and temperature. His planting date work in the 1980s-90s was instrumental in establishing the value of early fall planting, enabling growers to gain often 20% on their forage yields. He was quite interested in the biology of bee and pollination behavior, and the biochemistry of Lygus damage in alfalfa and other crops. In more recent years, he contributed to the understanding of gene flow in alfalfa, particularly as it relates to the importance of genetic integrity of biotech and non-biotech containing varieties in seed production.
He taught genetics, statistics and forages at UC Davis. In addition to his academic contribution in teaching and his research in alfalfa breeding, for many years Larry was the director for the departmental Foundation Seed Program, taught at the UC Plant Breeding Academy since its inception, and for the past nearly 10 years was the Executive Director of the California Crop Improvement Association.
Larry was a very thoughtful and methodical colleague, and will truly be missed by all of us, as a faculty member, director, colleague and friend. The alfalfa community regrets the loss of a geneticist and breeder who contributed greatly to this crop, and championed the crop both in California and nationally.
If you wish to send your condolences, please send it to Kathryn Soden, of the California Crop Improvement Association, One Shields Avenue, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, (krsoden@ucdavis.edu) and she will pass it on to the family.
Message for the day: Notice and value those around you - they might not be there tomorrow.
With Deep Sorrow,
CA Alfalfa Workgroup members