Stanley Peloquin
Research Description: Stanley J. Peloquin, age 87, passed away Sunday, July 27, 2008, surrounded by family at HospiceCare in Fitchburg, having celebrated his 87th birthday on Tuesday, July 22, 2008. A Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin in the Departments of Horticulture and Genetics, he was a world-renowned potato geneticist and breeder. His work contributed significantly to understanding fundamental mechanisms of chromosome manipulation and behavior. His broad interests and visionary insights uniquely merged basic and applied research yielding answers to problems of world hunger. He was born in Baron, Wis., on July 22, 1921, to a family of teachers. He received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from River Falls State College. After service aboard a naval destroyer in the South Pacific during World War II, he returned to earn a master’s in biology from Marquette University followed by a second master’s and a doctorate in genetics from UW-Madison. He taught biology at Marquette University for five years before joining the UW-Madison genetics department in 1957. His position required him to spend the summers at the Experiment Station in Door County. This led to the acquisition of a cottage on the shores of Lake Michigan. The cottage has served for more than 50 years as a delightful holiday retreat and venue for family gatherings. Since 1962, he held a joint appointment in horticulture and genetics. In retirement since 1994, he remained active in his field while enjoying the opportunity for world wide travel with his wife, Virgie, and to spiritedly support University of Wisconsin football and basketball — he had season tickets for more than 40 years! Professor Peloquin’s major research achievements include developing, along with Professor Robert Hougas, potato plants from unfertilized eggs; the discovery of the mechanisms behind formation of reproductive cells with parental chromosome number; and the development of breeding strategies for the use of true potato seed rather than tubers for growing potatoes. These fundamental contributions to genetic knowledge and breeding made it possible to grow potatoes in parts of the world which were previously unsuitable and contributed to alleviating world hunger. For these exceptional accomplishments, he was appointed Campbell-Bascom Professor of Horticulture and Genetics in 1983 and elected to the National Academy of Science in 1984. He has received numerous other awards and honors culminating with an honorary degree from the University of Naples in 2002. A dominant theme of his life whether research, teaching or personal was family. Even the vocabulary of plant breeding is that of familial relationships- parents, siblings, sons, and daughters. His students became his academic children, academic grandchildren, indeed academic great-grandchildren. He was a devoted, caring, and generous husband and father. Despite his impressive research achievements, his first love was teaching. He had a passion for teaching and a contagious enthusiasm combined with deeply held educational principles, great motivational abilities, and tremendous satisfaction at student success. He developed the Plant Breeding and Plant Genetics major for graduate students and was instrumental in developing the Biology Core Curriculum for undergraduates. He mentored 98 graduate students from 34 countries and created a world famous center for research on potato genetics. Although he worked in a discipline where typically nature is the primary interest over nurture, it was profoundly in his nature to nurture. He relished being in the field or lab together with his students. Perhaps his greatest and most lasting contribution to international potato research derives from the graduate students and visiting scientists he trained — a truly global legacy. He will be much and dearly missed by all for his generosity, good humor, optimism, wit, inspiration, stimulation, and decency. He is survived by his wife, Virgie Peloquin; sons, Philip (Sherrie) Peloquin of Circleville, Ohio, John (Penelope) Peloquin of Madison, and James (Jene) Peloquin of Mesa, Ariz.; grandchildren, Brandon Peloquin and Brienne (Brock) Vanover; great-grandchild, Blake Vanover; sister, Jeanne (Charles) Shultz of Monroe; Virgie’s daughter, Dianne (Mark) Siegel of Atlanta, Ga.; grandchildren, Christopher (Lisa) Siegel, Julia Siegel, and Melissa Siegel; and great-grandchildren, Gavin and David Siegel. He was preceded in death by his wife, Helga Peloquin. A funeral service will be held at JOYCE-RYAN FUNERAL HOME, 5701 Odana Road, at 11 a.m. on Thursday, July 31, 2008. Burial to immediately follow at Resurrection Catholic Cemetery. A visitation will be held at the funeral home from 10 a.m. until the time of the service. Memorial contributions may be made to the Peloquin Graduate Training and Research Fund or to the Don and Marilyn Anderson HospiceCare Center, 5395 E. Cheryl Parkway, Madison, WI 53711. Joyce-Ryan Funeral Home and Cremation Services 5701 Odana Road (608) 274-1000
Stanley J. Peloquin, age 87, passed away Sunday, July 27, 2008, surrounded by family at HospiceCare in Fitchburg, having celebrated his 87th birthday on Tuesday, July 22, 2008. A Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin in the Departments of Horticulture and Genetics, he was a world-renowned potato geneticist and breeder. His work contributed significantly to understanding fundamental mechanisms of chromosome manipulation and behavior. His broad interests and visionary insights uniquely merged basic and applied research yielding answers to problems of world hunger. He was born in Baron, Wis., on July 22, 1921, to a family of teachers. He received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from River Falls State College. After service aboard a naval destroyer in the South Pacific during World War II, he returned to earn a master’s in biology from Marquette University followed by a second master’s and a doctorate in genetics from UW-Madison. He taught biology at Marquette University for five years before joining the UW-Madison genetics department in 1957. His position required him to spend the summers at the Experiment Station in Door County. This led to the acquisition of a cottage on the shores of Lake Michigan. The cottage has served for more than 50 years as a delightful holiday retreat and venue for family gatherings. Since 1962, he held a joint appointment in horticulture and genetics. In retirement since 1994, he remained active in his field while enjoying the opportunity for world wide travel with his wife, Virgie, and to spiritedly support University of Wisconsin football and basketball — he had season tickets for more than 40 years! Professor Peloquin’s major research achievements include developing, along with Professor Robert Hougas, potato plants from unfertilized eggs; the discovery of the mechanisms behind formation of reproductive cells with parental chromosome number; and the development of breeding strategies for the use of true potato seed rather than tubers for growing potatoes. These fundamental contributions to genetic knowledge and breeding made it possible to grow potatoes in parts of the world which were previously unsuitable and contributed to alleviating world hunger. For these exceptional accomplishments, he was appointed Campbell-Bascom Professor of Horticulture and Genetics in 1983 and elected to the National Academy of Science in 1984. He has received numerous other awards and honors culminating with an honorary degree from the University of Naples in 2002. A dominant theme of his life whether research, teaching or personal was family. Even the vocabulary of plant breeding is that of familial relationships- parents, siblings, sons, and daughters. His students became his academic children, academic grandchildren, indeed academic great-grandchildren. He was a devoted, caring, and generous husband and father. Despite his impressive research achievements, his first love was teaching. He had a passion for teaching and a contagious enthusiasm combined with deeply held educational principles, great motivational abilities, and tremendous satisfaction at student success. He developed the Plant Breeding and Plant Genetics major for graduate students and was instrumental in developing the Biology Core Curriculum for undergraduates. He mentored 98 graduate students from 34 countries and created a world famous center for research on potato genetics. Although he worked in a discipline where typically nature is the primary interest over nurture, it was profoundly in his nature to nurture. He relished being in the field or lab together with his students. Perhaps his greatest and most lasting contribution to international potato research derives from the graduate students and visiting scientists he trained — a truly global legacy. He will be much and dearly missed by all for his generosity, good humor, optimism, wit, inspiration, stimulation, and decency. He is survived by his wife, Virgie Peloquin; sons, Philip (Sherrie) Peloquin of Circleville, Ohio, John (Penelope) Peloquin of Madison, and James (Jene) Peloquin of Mesa, Ariz.; grandchildren, Brandon Peloquin and Brienne (Brock) Vanover; great-grandchild, Blake Vanover; sister, Jeanne (Charles) Shultz of Monroe; Virgie’s daughter, Dianne (Mark) Siegel of Atlanta, Ga.; grandchildren, Christopher (Lisa) Siegel, Julia Siegel, and Melissa Siegel; and great-grandchildren, Gavin and David Siegel. He was preceded in death by his wife, Helga Peloquin. A funeral service will be held at JOYCE-RYAN FUNERAL HOME, 5701 Odana Road, at 11 a.m. on Thursday, July 31, 2008. Burial to immediately follow at Resurrection Catholic Cemetery. A visitation will be held at the funeral home from 10 a.m. until the time of the service. Memorial contributions may be made to the Peloquin Graduate Training and Research Fund or to the Don and Marilyn Anderson HospiceCare Center, 5395 E. Cheryl Parkway, Madison, WI 53711. Joyce-Ryan Funeral Home and Cremation Services 5701 Odana Road (608) 274-1000
