Photo by Tom Campbell The agronomy department honored professor emeritus Fred Patterson by naming an endowed chair in his honor during a ceremony Dec. 3.

For 53 years, Fred Patterson arrived at his Lilly Hall office about 6:30 a.m., put on the first pot of coffee for Department of Agronomy faculty and staff, and set about his research, writing and mentoring. After the first 36 years, he officially retired, but that didn’t alter his habits. He just added another chore as department historian.

“I retired in 1986 and then worked for 16 more years for free,” Patterson jokes. “I just didn’t like anything better.”

His wife and others confirm this.

“Purdue is his life,” says Dorothy Coonrod Patterson, his wife of 61 years. “He was completely dedicated to his job.”

Over the years, Patterson’s routine was a given. Only the cast of people shifted as three children, six grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren were added, and colleagues and students moved in and out of his world.

But in 2003, poor health finally dictated that he change his lifestyle. “He got up one morning in October, put on his hat and coat and then sat down and said, ‘I don’t think I’ll go in today,’” Dorothy says.

The 88-year-old hasn’t returned to work, but no one has forgotten him or his dedication, work ethic and concern for students and for all who worked with him. Recently, his friends and colleagues decided to honor him with an endowed professorship, the Fred L. Patterson Chair in Agronomy, which will be held by a researcher in translational plant genomics.

“He is a legend in agricultural science, and there is no more fitting tribute to Fred,” says Craig Beyrouty, agronomy department head. “Fred was a quiet but convincing leader with a keen intellect and tireless work ethic who was motivated only to improve the lives and livelihoods of others. Many of today’s outstanding breeders can attribute their success directly or indirectly to Fred Patterson.”

One of the people with whom Patterson shared his time and talent, Herb Ohm, PhD ’72, was a graduate student and research assistant under Patterson, whom he has known for 36 years. Ohm, now an agronomy professor, continues Patterson’s work and still calls him with questions.

“Fred is unusually talented in identifying important research objectives. He is highly effective as a mentor and in articulating important science to students and to general audiences,” says Ohm. “He always has made time for people. He always embraced new research and development in genetics and applied new knowledge to crop improvement.

“As I ventured into new areas and embarked on biotechnology, he was my biggest supporter.”

Patterson says that he did the work because he enjoyed it and not for any honors.

“I liked developing new small grain varieties for farmers,” says the emeritus professor who was one of nine children raised on a farm near Reynolds, Neb. “I’m appreciative that they are naming a chair for me. But the importance is that this funding will encourage more crop research to help people.”

When Gebisa Ejeta, MS ’76, PhD ’79, was a Purdue graduate student in the mid-1970s, he came to know Patterson. Now an agronomy professor, Ejeta and the senior researcher served on the faculty together for two years and have continued to interact during Patterson’s retirement. Ejeta says that was because Patterson never really left the department and even took on a new task of writing a monthly column and an annual newsletter about the department’s history. Patterson made some of that history.

“He pioneered interdisciplinary research, bringing people together from different disciplines – entomology, agronomy, plant pathology,” says Ejeta, a member of the committee searching for a scientist to fill the Patterson chair. “Fred always encouraged younger faculty and sought credit for others. Many of the awards that faculty members in our department won were the result of Fred writing the nominations for them.”

Patterson taught in a rural elementary school for five years before earning his agronomy degree with high distinction from the University of Nebraska in 1942. He earned his master’s in plant breeding from Kansas State University in 1947 and his doctorate in plant breeding from the University of Wisconsin three years later.

He joined Purdue’s staff in 1950, becoming a professor in 1956. From 1962 to 1965, he was assistant dean of the graduate school, and from 1966 to 1986 he was the assistant head of the Department of Agronomy.

Patterson is credited with participating in development of 27 commercially viable wheat varieties, five barley varieties and 20 oat varieties. Experts estimated that the wheat strains alone — planted on approximately 300 million acres in the eastern United States, including Indiana — increased U.S. farm income by $3.4 billion.

The Patterson chair is intended to encourage and increase similar research that can make the transition from the lab to the public. Funding for the Patterson chair faculty position includes $1.355 million from the Lilly Endowment, $500,000 from the Indiana Crop Improvement Association and $150,000 from the Nancy Hoffman Combs estate.

Contact Beyrouty at beyrouty@purdue.edu