Friends lost from the Tree Care Industry...

Jane Lucille Smith
Frank Bartlett Heisinger
Stuart J. Sperber
Dr. Alex Shigo
George Callaway
Bob Skiera
Tom Biddle
William L. Owen
William Griffin
Dr. Houston B. Couch

Stuart J. Sperber

Stuart J. Sperber, 70, founder of ValleyCrest Tree Co., passed away Friday, Sept. 7. He was diagnosed with throat cancer nearly two years ago.

Sperber held dual roles as Vice Chairman of the Board for ValleyCrest Companies and CEO and co-founder of Valley Crest Tree Company. After studying ornamental horticulture and earning a degree from Cal Poly Pomona, Sperber officially joined the family business about 1960 and soon established the tree division on a three-acre parcel on Sepulveda Boulevard in the northern San Fernando Valley. Incorporated in 1960, Valley Crest Tree Co. is a wholly owned subsidiary of ValleyCrest Companies, Inc. and the largest producer of containerized specimen trees in the western United States.

Sperber pioneered growing boxed trees in the early 1960s, many of them on leased Southern California land under power lines. ValleyCrest also became expert at moving large, mature trees. The company's tree-moving projects were often covered in the media.

Sperber held numerous leadership positions with professional landscape organizations. He was President of the California Landscape Contractors Association, a member of the National Council of Tree and Landscape Appraisers, Western Chapter of International Society of Arboriculture, American Association of Nurserymen (California), and President of the University Education Trust at California State Polytechnic University Pomona. He was recently honored with an industry lifetime achievement award and was named Pacific Coast Nurseryman of the Year.

Sperber and his twin sister, Deanna Jill, were born Sept. 23, 1936, in Los Angeles and moved to North Hollywood the next year with their parents, Lewis and Martha Sperber, and older brother, Burton. Lewis Sperber was a violinist who opened a retail nursery on Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood. In 1949, 19-year-old Burton paid $700 for another neighborhood nursery, renamed it Valley Crest Landscape.

"What is most gratifying to me is that my brother and I were able to work nearly 50 years together, side by side," Burton Sperber told the Los Angeles Times. "We never had a harsh word with each other. We were buddies."

In addition to his wife of 44 years, Leslie, and siblings, Sperber is survived by his children, Adam, Rochelle and Julie, and seven grandchildren.

Dr. Alex Shigo

Dr. Alex Shigo died unexpectedly on October 6, 2006, from a fall at his summer home on Mendums Pond.

He was born in Duquesne, PA on May 8,1930. Music was a large part of his life. He was a talented clarinetist and played in the official Air Force Band in Washington , DC for four years during the Korean war. During the time he was on tour in Toronto, Ontario he met his future wife, Marilyn. They married in 1951 and had 52 years and two wonderful children, Judy and Robert, together.

After his service he returned to Waynesburg College in southwestern Pennsylvania where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree. Then, he continued on to West Virginia University in Morgantown from where he received his Masters and Ph.D in Plant Pat hology.

He was hired by the USDA Forest Service where he eventually became Chief Scientist and did his work on decay and discoloration in northern hardwoods. After he retired from the Forest Service he started another career as author and publisher of his many books on tree biology, tree care and tree anatomy. He lectured in many countries of the world and was called “the father of modern arboriculture”. He was responsible for changing the way trees are pruned, resulting in healthier trees because of this technique. Last year their daughter Judy took over the book business and moved it to Snohomish, WA.

Alex is survived by his wife, Marilyn, daughter Judy Smith of Snohomish, WA and her husband Desmond, three children, Duncan, Shannon and Jillian. Our son, Robert Shigo and his wife Paul a have two children, Alex and Ellianna and live in Corona, CA. Alex is also survived by his brother, Elmer, of Washington Crossing, PA. and many nieces and nephews from him and Ann and their five children. He also had nephews and a niece from his brother Paul, (deceased) in California .

George H. Callaway

Former TCIA member George H. Callaway, 89, died Feb. 28 in Bennington, Vermont. George received a degree in botany from Cornell University in 1941. He began his pro-fessional career as a science teacher and taught at Argyle Central School. In 1952 he started his own tree, crop and farm animal care business while still teaching school.

He left teaching in 1956 to pursue arboriculture full-time as operator/owner of Llenroc Tree Experts. George continued taking care of trees well into his 80s.He and his wife, Helen (Gledhill) raised their family on a rural 50-acre setting outside Argyle, NY. He was very active in local and national arborist associations, and served in various official capacities. He was responsible for caring for and delivering the national Christmas tree to the White House on two occasions.

George was active in the arboriculture program at Paul Smith's College, where he funded a perpetual matching scholarship program in his late daughter Sandra Ferguson's name for deserving arboricultural students. He was a dedicated and perpetual student of natural history and instilled in all who knew him a wonder, awe and respect for science and the natural world. A prolific hiker, he often shared this knowledge on his many Adirondack adventures with those willing to join him and learn.

Donations may be made in his memory to the Paul Smith's College Arborist Program, PO Box 265, Paul Smiths, NY 12970-0265.

Bob Skiera Remembered

Bob Skiera, former ISA past president, died peacefully in his sleep at his home in Wisconsin on Friday, July 29, 2005. During his professional career he served as president of the International Society of Arboriculture, Municipal Arborists and Urban Foresters Association, and Wisconsin Arborist Association, and as Vice President of American Forests, the nation’s oldest conservation organization.

For his untiring efforts, Bob was honored with awards from many green-industry organizations. The latest was the Student Society of Arboriculture “Roots of Our Being” award in 1998. Memorial donations can be made to the Friends of Boerner Botanical Gardens (Hales Corners, WI) or to the TREE Fund.

Donald Thomas "Tom" Biddle, co-owner of MAT-3

Donald Thomas "Tom" Biddle of Dousman, Wisc., died Sunday, May 22, 2005, at Oconomowoc Memorial Hospital in Oconomowoc, Wisc., after a brief illness. He was 67.

Tom was a 1956 graduate of Anderson High School in Anderson, Ind., and a graduate of Arkansas A&M. He was co-owner of MAT-3, an aerial device manufacturing company, for 20 years, prior to which he worked at Mobile Aerial Towers. He was a member of the Elks Club in Tipton, president of MADDDC and a member of Ixonia Business Association. He was a fervent supporter of TCIA and a frequent exhibitor at TCI EXPO.

William “Bill” Owen, past president of TCIA, died January 24, 2005

William L. Owen, past president of the Tree Care Industry Association, died January 24 at age 78 in Lake Oswego, Oregon. Mr. Owen was born February 4, 1926 in Portland, Oregon. A graduate of Lewis and Clark College, he served in the Marine Corps during World War II.

As a young man, Bill went to work for his father’s company, General Spray Service, beginning a lifelong career in arboriculture. He later changed the company’s name to General Tree Service, which he owned and operated until 1985. After selling the company, Bill continued as an arboricultural consultant, actively practicing until his death.

General Tree Service was a member of the Tree Care Industry Association (formerly the National Arborist Association) from 1972. Bill was elected president of the association in 1987.

An early proponent of professional arboriculture in the Pacific Northwest region, Bill was a founding member of the local chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture, serving as chapter president. He was also a member of the Oregon Golf Course Superintendents Association and the American Society of Consulting Arborists.

William "Bill" Griffin, former president of Griffin Tree and Landscape Company, dies at 88

Bill Griffin, former member and past president of ASCA and WCISA, passed away on Dec. 10, 2004.

Bill was born in Fullerton, Neb., on Aug. 8, 1916. After graduation from Colorado State University, Bill went to Australia to work for the Department of Woods and Forests, mapping and surveying timber. After a time at the Navy Yard in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, during World War II, Bill helped establish Griffin and Morgan Tree Company in Santa Barbara, Calif., where he became a partner. He was president of Griffin Tree and Landscape Company until his retirement.

Dr. Houston B. Couch, renowned turfgrass pathologist, dies

Dr. Houston B. Couch, one of the world’s first full-time, academically appointed turfgrass pathologists and who developed an international reputation over his career, passed away September 12, 2004.

Born on July 1, 1924 , he earned his bachelor's degree from Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville in 1950, and his doctorate from the University of California at Davis in 1954. He finished his career as professor of plant pathology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University , Blacksburg , VA.

Dr. Couch’s first appointment was as an assistant professor of turfgrass pathology at The Pennsylvania State University in 1954. He came to Virginia Tech in 1965 to serve as head of the Department of Plant Pathology and Physiology. Under his nine-year tutelage, 12 faculty members were hired, a Plant Protection non-thesis program was offered, the Glade Road Research Center was constructed – with much needed greenhouse and laboratory facilities, and Price Hall underwent extensive renovation. He had a significant effect on the direction and productivity of department programs.

In 1974, he resumed academic duties in research and instruction, conducting research on chemical control of turfgrass diseases, the effect of environmental factors on turfgrass disease development, and the nature and control of senectopathic diseases of turfgrass. He taught an undergraduate course in Turfgrass Pathology and tutored several graduate students. He authored two academic texts; “Diseases of Turfgrass” in 1962, and "The Turfgrass Disease Handbook" in 2000. In addition, he published many scientific papers, chapters in books, technical trade journal articles, extension publications, conference proceedings and research abstracts. He was an exceedingly popular speaker who, over the course of his career, had accepted close to 500 national and international requests to present his research and discuss its application to practical turfgrass disease management.

His career was full of awards acknowledging his significant contributions to the understanding of turfgrass disease management. Most recently, Dr. Couch was awarded the 2002 National Distinguished Service Award from the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America for "Outstanding contributions to the advancement of the golf course superintendent’s profession." In 2003 he was awarded the United States Golf Association Green Section Award for "Distinguished service to golf through work with turfgrass."

Dr. Couch lived a very productive life and enjoyed the support of his wife of 58 years; Billie Spencer Couch, four sons, one daughter, and several grandchildren. He had many friends in the turfgrass community and touched many of our lives. He will be sorely missed.

The family has designated that memorial contributions in Dr. Couch’s memory be sent to Dayspring Christian Academy, P.O. Drawer 909, Blacksburg, VA 24063.