In memoriam
Robert Raymond Blank
Robert Blank, a member of SSSA for 46 years and ASA for 31, passed away on 18 Aug. 2021. He was born on 9 Oct. 1950 in Milwaukee, WI. He met his wife Ginny when they were attending the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point. They married in February of 1975 and lived in South Dakota where Blank worked as a soil scientist with the USDA until moving to Idaho in 1980 where he earned his Ph.D. in Soil Science at the University of Idaho.
In 1987, Blank and his family moved to Reno, NV where he returned to the USDA-ARS as a research scientist. He was well respected in his field, well published, and a mentor to many. When he retired from the USDA after 40 years in August of 2018, he was thrilled to be called back to the lab by the University of Nevada–Reno where he has worked part time since. He served as an associate editor of the Soil Science Society of America Journal.
Blank loved his family and with them enjoyed all things. He was a wonderful husband, father, and grandfather. He enjoyed family card night, dancing every Friday, playing trivia at various venues, cookie day, and family soup-off. He took daily hikes and was an avid photographer.
Blank is survived by his wife, Ginny; his son, Bart and wife Grace; his daughter, Amie and husband Bill Masciocchi; his son, Micah and fiancée Katya Amchentseva; his granddaughter and best friend, Lily; his brother, James and wife Sharon; his sister, Pat; his brother, Frank and wife Carol; and many nieces and nephews on both sides of the family. He is preceded in death by his parents Frank and Rose.
Larry L. Darrah
Dr. Larry L. Darrah, a 40-year member of ASA and CSSA, passed away on 28 Nov. 2021. He received a B.S. from Cornell University in 1965 and a Ph.D. in Plant Breeding (maize/corn) from Iowa State University in 1970. From 1970 to 1977 he worked as a Research Geneticist with USDA-USAID in Kenya. Darrah started as a Research Geneticist in the Plant Genetics Research Unit in Columbia, MO in 1977 and conducted research on corn stalk and root strength as well as numerous diseases and insect pests of corn. He held adjunct faculty status in the Department of Agronomy at the University of Missouri where he served as the research adviser for 27 M.S. and Ph.D. students and taught Applied Quantitative and Statistical Genetics.
Darrah was a stickler for organization, and his students valued his feedback on publications and presentations. From 1991 until 2005, he served as Research Leader for the Plant Genetics Research Unit. Those that knew him in that role remember him fondly as extremely fair and very well liked.
Darrah was an associate editor of Crop Science and a member of the NCCPB Genetics & Plant Breeding Award for Industry Committee and the CSSA Fellows Committee.
There will be no memorial service or formal obituary. For those that wish to honor his memory, his wife, Bonnie, suggested donating to The Marcus S. Zuber Assistantship Endowment at the University of Missouri to support assistantships and meeting travel for graduate students in corn breeding and genetics. Checks can be made out to the University of Missouri and mailed to either Dr. Sherry Flint-Garcia (Darrah’s final Ph.D. student and current Research Geneticist in the unit) or Dr. Bruce Hibbard (current Research Leader) at 205 Curtis Hall, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211 with a short note that it is intended as a gift to the University of Missouri Marcus S. Zuber Assistantship Endowment.
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