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["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

http://growingproduce.com/news/?storyid=5443

Norman Childers Passes Away At 100

April 26, 2011

Dr. Norman Childers, a long-time fruit researcher, author, and 
educator, passed away on Sunday, April 24, in Gainesville, FL, at the 
age of 100.

Childers spent several years as a researcher and professor at Rutgers 
University before retiring in 1981. But his career in the fruit 
industry didn’t end there; he spent almost 30 years as an adjunct 
professor of fruit crops at the University of Florida. Author of many 
books, including Modern Fruit Science, Childers was an active member of 
the American Society for Horticultural Science.

As Dan Cantliffe of the University of Florida notes, “Norm was a king 
among horticulturists, someone who loved students and loved teaching. 
He is well known around the world through the books he wrote and his 
expertise in fruit crops. Norm taught various courses in fruit crops at 
the University of Florida starting in 1981 after retiring from Rutgers 
University. He started our “Fruits for Fun and Profit” course which 
has more than 400 students every time it is taught. He taught his last 
course when he was 92 and finished his last book when he was 95. He 
will be deeply missed.”

Childer’s funeral will be on Friday, April 29 at 2:00 p.m. at the 
William Thomas Funeral Home in Gainesville, FL.

Click here to read American/Western Fruit Grower’s May 2005 cover 
story, a conversation between Childers and long-time American/Western 
Fruit Grower editor and current chairman emeritus Dick Meister.