Charles M. Rick Jr.

Charles M. Rick

Education:

• Senior High School, Reading, PA, 1930-1933
• B.S., Pennsylvania State College (now University), Major: Horticulture/Plant Breeding, 1933-1937
• A.M., Ph.D., Harvard University, Major: Biology/Genetics, 1937-1940
• University of California, Davis, 1940-1985

Significant Contributions: Analysis of Tomato Genome

• Via standard linkage and cytogenetic procedures, map the entire tomato genome.
• Exploit these markers to tag useful genes for male sterility, resistances, etc.
• Detect depauperate condition of tomato genome, requiring replenishment from other sources.

Research on Related, Wild Solanum Species

• Collect living material of 9 Lycopersicon and 4 related Solanum species on 15 expeditions to the native region in the northwest Andes.
• Investigate mating systems and population structure via molecular markers in each species to facilitate breeding and preservation.
• Investigate hybrid sterility and other barriers to experimental introgression of wild traits and circumvention of same.
• On basis of aforementioned studies, ascertain natural relations between species.
• Clues from autecology for disease and insect resistances and tolerance of abiotic environmental stresses.

Germplasm preservation:

• All collections of wild populations and accumulated genie and chromosomal variants form the nucleus of the CMR Tomato Genetics Resource Center.
• Functions of Center: acquisition, maintenance of ca. 3,600 living accessions, evaluation, distribution, and documentation, directed by CMR.
• Derive "prebed" introgression lines with useful genes from wild sources to expedite the breeding of improved tomato cultivars.

From his Memorial Service

Professor Charles Rick (1915-2002) was the world's leading authority on the tomato. His landmark contributions in plant genetics, evolution and germplasm enhancement made the tomato a favored model species for biological studies and one of the world's favorite vegetables. Indeed, it is not far off the mark to say that in every tomato is a bit of Dr. Rick.

Something of a modern-day Charles Darwin and Indiana Jones combined, Professor Rick was equally at home in the classroom, greenhouse, laboratory and field. His research expeditions took him from the Galapagos Islands to high in the Andes, where he crisscrossed rugged terrain to collect hundreds of wild tomato species. These invaluable collections are currently housed in the C. M. Rick Tomato Genetics Resource Center at the University of California-Davis, also serving as the worldwide distribution center.

An excellent lecturer, Rick was much sought after by universities who valued both his rigorous science and his humor and flair for storytelling. Professor Rick's legacy is recorded in the several generations of plant geneticists he mentored and now lead major research institutes, serve as ministers of agriculture, and work as faculty members at universities on every continent. Over the years, he received a host of prestigious awards including election to the National Academy of Sciences (1967), Alexander von Humboldt Award (1993), the Filippo Maseri Florio World Prize for Distinguished Research in Agriculture (1997) and induction in the American Society of Horticultural Sciences Hall of Fame (1998).

Born in 1915 in Reading, PA, he grew up working in orchards and participating in nature studies through the Boy Scouts. He earned a bachelor's degree in horticulture in 1937 from Pennsylvania State University, where he met and married Martha Overholts. The couple then moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he earned a doctoral degree in genetics from Harvard University in 1940. He came to UC Davis in 1940 as a faculty member of the Division of Truck Crops, later the Department of Vegetable Crops, launching a career spanning more than 60 years. Although he officially retired from UC Davis in 1985, Professor Rick remained active in the field until age 85, when health difficulties interfered with his work.

Among his colleagues, Dr. Rick was considered the quintessential scientist. His passions were learning and discovery, not fame or fortune. His contagious enthusiasm for biology impacted and motivated those who knew him. Usually sporting the trademark cloth fishing hat that he wore in both formal and informal settings, Dr. Rick was known as a modest person full of amusing anecdotes and skilled at sharing them. He will be sorely missed by his extended family of colleagues, friends and students.