DONALD FLETCHER
By Bob Reiss, From the Re-Echo, Spring 2004

Donald Fletcher was a plant pathologist.   He assisted Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Norman Borlaug and Dr. E.C. Stackman at the University of Minnesota in their seed development programs. 

Fletcher grew up on his father's farm located in the area of Miracle Mile.  He began school in the old Lincoln School and graduated from St. Louis Park High School.  At the University of Minnesota, he received a degree and took graduate work in plant sciences.

The area of stem rust control in wheat, durum and other small grains is where Don Fletcher provided his greatest contribution.  In 1922, it was recognized that rust control was very important for the Upper Midwest farmers.  The Conference for the Prevention of Grain Rust was found by a group of Minneapolis milling executives, and Don became involved.  Through his efforts, more than 600 million rust spreading barbary bushes have been destroyed.

Eliminating the rust spreading barbary was only a small part of the rust program.  Don worked with the University of Minnesota scientists who were active in seed development.  He helped organize the government and scientists to achieve extensive and needed expansion of research in the breeding and cultivation of crops.  Winter tests with two crops per year from Mexico sped the research and put new rust resistant varieties into the hands of farmers years ahead.

Along with many awards he received an honorary doctorate from North Dakota State University, the E.C. Stackman award at the University of Minnesota.  He also became a member of the prestigious Cosmos Club in Washington, DC.

By 1960, Don Fletcher was expanding his influence with the Rockefeller Foundation in wheat growing technology to the world; not just Canada and Mexico, but also to India, Pakistan, and the Philippines. 

Don Fletcher raised his family and lived his whole life in St. Louis Park. He took an interest in his home town and served for ten years on the school board. He died in 1970.




 

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