Professor Emeritus Jerry Maranville, age 79, died July 7, 2020. Maranville served as a faculty member in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln for 33 years.
He spent his first few years of life on a farm in Reno County, Kansas, with his parents. In 1945, the family moved to Matheson, Colorado. His early childhood was spent helping on the farm, raising chickens and cattle. He graduated from Simla High School in 1958. He entered Colorado State University in the fall of that year and majored in soil conservation and earned a bachelor’s degree in 1962.
Although his initial plans were to return to the farm, he decided to continue his education at CSU and was accepted into graduate school to study for a master’s in crop science. His research was on the study of wheat variety variations in their ability to germinate under the drought stresses found in the Great Plains. He received a master’s degree in 1964.
In the summer of 1964, he accompanied a friend to visit Kansas State University. He was later invited to study at KSU in the area of crop physiology and biochemistry. He accepted and received a doctorate in the spring of 1967 at the age of 26.
He applied to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln for a position in agronomy and was hired to be part of a team designated as a University Area of Excellence for studies in crop physiology.
In 1979, Maranville joined a team funded by USAID to provide assistance to agricultural programs in less developed countries. His first trip abroad was to Sudan in Africa where he and four other individuals started a collaborative effort in agriculture with the Sudanese government.
In 1982, the Maranville family moved to the Philippines where Maranville worked for one year with the International Rice Research Institute and the University of the Philippines on sabbatical leave.
Upon returning to Nebraska, he continued his research on nitrogen use efficiency of sorghum and participating in international work for the rest of his career. During that time, he gave collaborative assistance to researchers in Africa including Mali, Niger, Ghana and Egypt. He also served as associate head of a project in Morocco.
He was hired by the University of Wyoming in 1988 to perform a special assignment in Somalia and spent significant time as a collaborator in India throughout his career.
In 2000, right before retirement, he was asked by the Chinese government to visit there for a brief period in an agricultural advisory role.
He was very active in the American Society of Agronomy and in 1997 was presented their highest award of Fellow in the Society for his research in nitrogen use efficiency.
September 21, 2020
