A biographical memoir of the late Clarence “Bud” Ryan — a pioneer researcher in plant biochemistry and the first WSU faculty member to be admitted to the National Academy of Sciences — has recently been published in the NAS’ scientific journal.
The article is written by Ryan’s colleague, R. James Cook, a former WSU researcher. Cook — who served as WSU College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences interim dean — is also an Academy member.
Ryan was internationally known for his discoveries that plants produce natural insecticides to protect themselves from predation by herbivores. In the memoir in the National Academy of Sciences Proceedings, Cook says Roger Beachy, president of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, Mo., best summed up Ryan when he said, “Bud
made contributions so great that it will be difficult to account for his impact for years to come.”
Ryan’s obituary in a 2007 issue of the Plant Molecular Biology Reporter says, “Bud has left us, but his legacy will live on.” Read a WSU Today story about Ryan, published after his October 2007 death here.
