Alex Laurie Award
About the Alex Laurie Award
SAF’s Alex Laurie Award for Research and Education is presented annually to an individual who has made broad-scope, long lasting contributions to research or education in the floriculture industry. You may download and print the nomination form here.
A brief biography of Professor Alex Laurie
The award is named for Alex Laurie who, throughout a career that spanned more than 60 years, laid the groundwork for research that revolutionized the floriculture industry and who left a lineage of students, teachers and researchers who continued to this day to provide the information necessary to ensure the industry’s future. Professor Laurie exemplified the perfect blend of researcher and educator – he knew the value of his research results, knew how to communicate that value and knew how to teach growers to apply it to their own operations. His pioneering work in photoperiodism, fertilizers, nutrition and other areas paved the way for additional research leading to countless advancements in floriculture production.
Laurie was born in France in 1892, and arrived in the United Stated in 1903, attending high school in New York City. He received his BS degree from Cornell University in 1914 and was for two years a horticulture instructor at the University of Maine. In 1916, Laurie became a horticulturist at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, receiving his MA from St. Louis’ Washington University in 1917. He remained at the Botanical Garden until 1920, and from 1920 to 1925 worked in various aspects of the commercial floriculture industry, including retail floristry and greenhouse production.
In 1925, Laurie became Assistant Professor of Horticulture at Michigan State University, where he remained until 1929. During that time, he helped organize and served as Executive Secretary of the Michigan Florists Association.
In 1929, Laurie became Head Professor of the Division of Floriculture and Ornamental Horticulture at the Ohio State University, where he remained until he retired from teaching in 1952. During this tenure at OSU, over 600 students received degrees in Floriculture and Ornamental Horticulture under his tutelage. Many of these students went on to highly responsible positions in industry, education and research, and now third generations of his students are teaching a fourth. While at OSU, Laurie helped found and served as Executive Secretary-Treasurer of Roses, Inc.
In 1952, Laurie retired to Florida, where he founded and was president of Whistling Pines Gardens Inc., a tropical plant production nursery. In 1963, he moved to Pine Mountain Georgia, and became a horticultural consultant to Callaway Gardens. Mr. Laurie died in 1982 at the age of 89.
In addition to those he helped found, Laurie was a member of fifteen other floriculture industry associations, and in 1964 was elected to SAF’s Floricultural Hall of Fame. In 1977, he received the SAF award named for him. He was the author of eight books on floriculture production, nursery management and retail floristry, and was author and co-author of dozens of papers published in the scientific literature and articles published in the trade and popular press.
Alex Laurie Award for Research and Education Recipients
2011 Raymond Cloyd Ph.D., Kansas State University 2010 Ann Chase Ph.D., University of Florida 2009 Lance Osborne Ph. D., University of Florida 2008 Dr. James Barrett, University of Florida 2007 Dr. James Moyer, North Carolina State University 2006 Dr. Allan Armitage, University of Georgia 2005 Dr. Kevin Heinz, Texas A&M University 2004 Dr. Mary Hausbeck, Michigan State University 2003 Dr. Michael Reid, University of California 2002 Dr. Richard A. Criley, University of Hawaii at Manoa 2001 Dr. Paul V. Nelson, North Carolina State University 2000 Dr. Joe J. Hanan, Colorado State University 1999 Dr. P. Allen Hammer, Purdue University 1998 Margery Daughtrey, Cornell University, Long Island Horticultural Research Labs 1997 Dr. Michael Parrella, University of California-Davis 1996 Dr. Royal Heins, Michigan State University 1995 Dr. William Carpenter, University of Florida 1994 Dr. August A. DeHertogh, North Carolina State University 1993 Dr. Anton Kofranek, University of California 1992 Dr. Harry Tayama, Ohio State University 1991 Dr. Harold Wilkins, Nurserymen's Exchange, Half Moon Bay, CA 1990 Dr. Richard Craig, Pennsylvania State University 1989 G. Victor Ball, George J. Ball, Inc., Chicago, IL 1988 Dr. Roy A. Larson, North Carolina State University 1987 Dr. Robert Wing Langhans, Cornell University 1986 Dr. William H. Carlson, Michigan State University 1985 Dr. Lowell C. Ewart, Michigan State University 1984 Dr. Claude Hope, Linda Vista, S.A. 1983 Dr. Gail Edwin Bec 1982 Professor James W. Boodley, Cornell University 1982 Professor Haruyuki Kamemoto, University of Hawaii 1981 Dr. Richard E. Widmer, University of Minnesota 1980 Dr. Elwood Kalin, Washington State University 1979 Dr. John White, Pennsylvania State University 1978 Dr. Toshio Murashige, University of California 1977 Professor Alex Laurie, Ohio State University 1976 Dr. D.C. Kiplinger, Ohio State University 1974 Professor Oliver A. Batcheller, California Polytechnic State University 1974 Dr. Howard C. Brown, California Polytechnic State University 1973 Alvi O. Voigt, Pennsylvania State University 1972 Dr. Charles E. Hess, Rutgers University 1971 Dr. Harry Trelogan, USDA Statistical Reporting Service, Washington, DC 1970 Professor A.W. Dimock, Cornell University 1969 E. Gurney Mann, E.G. Hill Company, Richmond, IN 1968 Dr. H.H. Thornberry, University of Illinois 1967 Dr. Louis Berninger, University of Wisconsin 1966 Professor James E. Smith, Jr., University of Missouri 1965 Dr. John G. Seeley, Cornell University 1964 Dr. Marlin N. Rogers, University of Missouri 1964 Professor James E. Smith, Jr., University of Missouri 1963 Dr. Neil Stuart, USDA, Washington, DC 1963 Dr. Samuel Emswelle, USDA, Washington, DC 1962 Paul R. Krone, Michigan State University 1960 Dr. Gustav A.L. Mehiquist, University of Connecticut 1959 Dr. W.D. Holley, Colorado State University 1958 Dr. James B. Shanks, University of Maryland 1957 Dr. John R. Culbert, University of Illinois 1956 Dr. A.F. DeWerth, Texas A&M University 1956 Dr. Wesley Davidson, Rutgers University 1955 Dr. Henry M. Cathey, Cornell University 1954 C. Fisher 1954 Kenneth Post 1953 M. Truman, USDA, Washington, DC 1952 R. Hampton 1952 B. Brunk 1951 N. Stuart 1950 Conrad Olson |