Gerald Carl Gerloff

Area:

Website:

Google:

Bio:

(1920 - 2001)
https://books.google.com/books?id=RqtNAAAAMAAJ
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/406683919/
Gerloff, Prof. Gerald Carl MADISON Prof. Emeritus Gerald Carl Gerloff, known for his gentle dry humor, personal warmth, endless curiosity, and passion for nature, passed away Saturday, November 17, 2001 at the Don Marilyn Anderson Hospice in Fitchburg, Wis. Born in Aurora, on January 26, 1920, to Kay and Meta Gerloff, he was raised on a farm and educated in a one-room school house during the Depression. Thanks to FDR's New Deal programs, he was able to attend the University of Nebraska, graduating with a degree in chemistry in 1941. That same year he moved to Madison to begin graduate school at the University of Wisconsin.

With the outbreak of World War II he put his chemistry background to work for the Hercules Powder Company at Badger Ordnance and in Chattanooga, returning to the UW after the war to complete his Ph.D. in Soils Science in 1948. He did his postdoctoral studies with Prof. Folke Skoog in the UW Department of Botany immediately after completing his Ph.D. He remained there for his entire career, conducting research and teaching until his retirement in 1986.

His research focused on the mineral nutrition of plants. In the 1950's he established that cobalt was critical to the nuisance blooms of blue-green algae in Wisconsin lakes. He continued to research the nutritional ecology of nuisance aquatic plants, working extensively with the Program in Water Resources Management and the Institute of Environmental Studies at the UW. He also developed crop genotypes tolerant of nutrient deficient soils. A great advocate of conservation and restoration ecology, he served for many years on the UW Arboretum Committee and was active in the Friends of the Arboretum and the Wisconsin Chapter of the Nature Conservancy.

He was an avid amateur nature photographer, and was never happier than while waiting for the clouds to part and cast the perfect light on a distant mountain. He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Mary Ellen Gerloff (nee Varney); brother, Robert Gerloff; sister-in-law, Rachel of Hamilton, daughter, Barbara Gerloff of Madison; son, Robert Gerloff; daughter-in-law, Ly-nette Lamb; and granddaughters, Grace and Julia Gerloff all of Minneapolis. A memorial service will be held at the UW ARBORETUM'S MCKAY VISITOR CENTER next to the Curtis Prairie on Friday, December 7, 2001, at 11 a.m. Memorials may be made to the Friends of the Arboretum, the Nature Conservancy Wisconsin Chapter, or the First Congregational Church Foundation.
(Show less)