A Texas A&M distinguished professor known as the “man who fed billions” has died.
Norman Borlaug passed away Saturday in Dallas at the age of 95.
The following is information made available from Texas A&M University:
COLLEGE STATION – Norman E. Borlaug, who received the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize for developing high-yielding, disease-resistant wheat used to prevent famine in developing countries throughout the world, died shortly before 11 p.m. from complications of cancer in Dallas.
Borlaug, whose career was dedicated to using science to combat world hunger, was Distinguished Professor of International Agriculture in Texas A&M University’s department of soil and crop sciences. He was 95.
The memorial service, which will be held at Texas A&M in College Station, is pending.
In 2007, Borlaug received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor of the United States. This capped a string of major awards and honors throughout his scientific and humanitarian career.
“We all eat at least three times a day in privileged nations, and yet we take food for granted,” Borlaug said in a recent interview. “There has been great progress, and food is more equitably distributed. But hunger is commonplace, and famine appears all too often.”
Until recently, Borlaug still traveled internationally working tirelessly for improvements in agricultural science and food policy. He regularly could be found in his office on campus in College Station advising students and providing counsel to fellow faculty members on research and scholarship.
His childhood days were spent on an Iowa farm, influenced by his Norwegian grandfather’s lessons on common sense. At the University of Minnesota, where he began his college education during the Depression of the 1930s, he was told his high school education had not prepared him properly in science and math. He failed an entrance exam and was placed in the General College.
But that experience made Borlaug work hard on his studies. He earned meals as a restaurant waiter and paid for tuition and books by saving money from summer jobs. Borlaug also received his master’s and doctorate degrees in plant pathology from University of Minnesota.
During World War II, Borlaug was in charge of industrial and agricultural chemical research for a DuPont laboratory. In 1944, after his release from the War Manpower Commission, he became a scientist for the Cooperative Wheat Research and Production Program – a joint venture between the Rockefeller Foundation and the Mexican government which began his life-long passion for international agriculture.
This project became the institution known as CIMMYT, Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Ma