Volume 63 Number 1 Article 3
Year 2009 Month 1
Title: 2008 Wilder Silver Medal to Dr. James J. Luby
Authors: C. Finn, D. Archbold
Abstract:
The American Pomological Society (APS)
awarded the 2008 Wilder Silver Medal to
Dr.
James “Jim” Luby, Professor, Department
of Horticultural Science, University of
Minnesota, in recognition of the outstanding
contributions and impact the University of
Minnesota Fruit Breeding program under
his leadership has had on fruit breeding and
the commercial fruit industry.
The medal
was presented at the annual APS meeting in
Orlando, Florida in July, 2007. The Wilder
Silver Medal was established in 1873 in honor
of Marshall Pinckney Wilder, the founder and
first President of the APS. The Wilder medal
is presented to individuals or organizations
that have rendered outstanding service to
horticulture in the area of pomology.
Dr.
Luby earned his B.S. in Agronomy
at Purdue University in 1978 with highest
distinction.
Jim received his Ph.D. in 1982
from the University of Minnesota, majoring
in plant breeding with statistics and plant
physiology as supporting programs.
Upon
graduation, Dr.
Luby accepted a position with
the Department of Horticultural Science as
an Assistant Professor with fruiting breeding
research and teaching responsibilities.
Dr.
Luby was promoted quickly through the ranks
becoming an Associate Professor in 1987 and
Professor in 1994.
Dr.
Luby took over the leadership of the
University of Minnesota fruit breeding program
in 1982. Since that time, he has published
extensively on breeding and genetics
(over 100 refereed publications) and is known
internationally for his expertise on fruit breeding,
germplasm collecting and evaluation, and
quantitative and population genetics.
While
the University of Minnesota fruit breeding
program has a long and prestigious history,
Dr.
Luby not only continued this successful
program, he took it to an entirely new level of
impact and recognition throughout the world
for his development of cultivars adapted to
cold climates.
In his career at Minnesota, he
and his team have released 22 cultivars (see
list below), including 6 blueberry, 2 raspberry,
3 strawberry (3 patented), 4 winegrape (3 patented),
5 apple (4 patented), 1 plum and 1 pear.
These cultivars have generated approximately
$6,000,000 in royalties, licensing fees, etc., for
the University of Minnesota.
While nearly all
of these cultivars have had an impact, a few
deserved to be highlighted.
Apple cultivars ‘Honeycrisp’ has had the greatest impact
of any of Dr.
Luby’s cultivars with over 4
million trees sold and plantings widely established
in the U.S., eastern Canada, and more
recently in Europe (primarily France and
Germany), South Africa, New Zealand, Chile
and Australia. ‘Honeycrisp’ is probably the
most important cultivar from a U.S. breeding
program since ‘Jonagold’ or ‘Empire’. For the
past decade it seems impossible to have read
about new apple cultivars without a mention
of ‘Honeycrisp’s incredible fruit quality and
its mercurial rise to become one of the world’s
major new apple cultivars.
More recently,
Zestar!™ has sold well and is becoming more
popular in the eastern and Midwestern U.S. as
an early ripening cultivar. Winegrape cultivars At least 500,000 vines of Dr.
Luby’s new
grape cultivars have been planted, remarkable
considering how recently they have been
released.
These cultivars have helped spur the
development of vineyards and wine production
in cold climate regions of the Midwest
and Northeast.
The greatest acreage is in
‘Frontenac’, the oldest release, with more recent
releases just beginning to be substantially
planted.
Wines of ‘Frontenac’ are now starting
to win medals in regional, national, and
international wine competitions, especially
for port-style wines.
Blueberry cultivars Dr.
Luby’s half-high blueberry cultivars
have made small scale production possible in
colder parts of the Midwest and eastern U.S.
where it was previously not feasible.
They
have also been popular in very cold regions
of Europe including Scandinavia.
In addition,
they are very popular landscape plants.
A stunning
60,000-80,000 plants per year are being
sold throughout the U.S.
Cultivars released by the
University of Minnesota under
Dr.
Jim Luby’s leadership
Apple: Honeycrisp (1991), Zestar!TM (Minnewashta)(1998), SnowSweetTM (Wildung)
(2006), MN 1914 (Minneiska) (2006), MN
447 (2007)
Blueberry: Northblue (1983), Northsky
(1983), Northcountry (1986), St.
Cloud
(1990), Polaris (1996), Chippewa (1996)
Wine Grape: Frontenac (1996), La Crescent
(2002), Frontenac Gris (2003), Marquette
(2006)
Strawberry: Winona™ (MNUS 210) (1997),
Mesabi™ (MNUS 248) (1999), Itasca™
(MNUS 138) (2006)
Raspberry: Redwing (1987), Nordic (1988)
Plum: Alderman (1986)
Pear: Summercrisp (1987)
Dr.
Luby’s research impacts beyond cultivar
development have been significant with over
100 publications and dozens of invited presentations
throughout the world.
He has sent
a cadre of graduate students out who have had
a major impact on horticulture, particularly
plant breeding.
He is known as a challenging
and dynamic teacher for the graduate and
undergraduate students he instructs.
Dr.
Luby
is widely known as a fantastic sounding board
for many colleagues as he can help them think
through projects and scientific problems with
practical and insightful ideas and comments.
Finally, Dr.
Luby has served in a coaching
capacity for cross country ski teams in Minnesota
where the teams and individuals he
has worked with have had great success.
The
society is pleased to recognize Dr.
Luby’s
many accomplishments.
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