Donald Rasmusson, who was the year 2000 recipient of MCIA’s highest honor, the Achievement in Crop Improvement Award, died August 6 at the age of 93. MCIA also honored Professor Rasmusson with an Honorary Premier Seed Grower Award.
The University of Minnesota notes:
Don was hired by the University of Minnesota Agronomy and Plant Genetics Department in 1958 and was a faculty member for 42 years. He was a world-renowned barley breeder who developed nine varieties of barley, including Morex, Robust, Excel, and Stander. Don served as the director of Plant Breeding Graduate Studies for 22 years and advised more than 70 graduate students, including special-program Moroccan students, from 1961 to 1999. He was also credited with publishing more than 200 manuscripts, abstracts, reports, and articles.
Don’s work was recognized with many awards and accolades, including the University of Minnesota Crookston’s Torch and Shield Award (1989), the Monsanto Crop Science Distinguished Career Award (1994), and the University’s Siehl Prize for Excellence in Agriculture (1996). He is also memorialized on the U’s Scholars Walk on the East Bank campus.
To read Donald Rasmusson’s official obituary, visit: https://www.ohalloranmurphy.com/obituary/Donald-Rasmusson.