Marty Carson

Marty Carson, formerly of the USDA-ARS Cereal Disease Laboratory in St Paul MN,  died May 9, 2019, at his home in Roseville MN, with his wife Deb by his side.  

 

Marty was born in Arcola IL, and attended Eastern Illinois University as an undergraduate and did his graduate studies (M.S. and Ph.D) in Plant Pathology at the University of Illinois.  Marty was a faculty member at South Dakota State University for eight years and then joined the USDA-ARS Plant Science Unit in Raleigh NC staring in 1989. With the USDA-ARS in Raleigh, Marty became well known for his work on maize diseases and maize germplasm improvement.  In 2002 Marty accepted the Research Leader position at the USDA-ARS Cereal Disease Laboratory in Minnesota. In St Paul he identified sources of durable resistance in cultivated oat to the crown rust fungus, Puccinia coronata.  He used these oat selections to develop  a number of recombinant inbred line populations of oat in that are still being studied today. He also characterized populations of Puccinia coronata in the USA for virulence to crown rust resistance genes and for molecular genetic polymorphism.

 

Marty was active in the Crop Science Society of America and American Phytopathological Society (APS),and served as associate editor and senior editor for Phytopathology, and was recognized as a Fellow of APS for his research and leadership accomplishments. 

 

During his time as Research Leader at the USDA-ARS Cereal Disease Laboratory, Marty oversaw a major expansion of the research facilities, with new labs, conference room, plant pathogen containment facility, and an additional seed storage unit.  He also oversaw a major retrofit of the CDL laboratory and greenhouse facilities.  He also was instrumental in hiring new scientific and support staff during this time.  During his time as Research Leader, the CDL gained worldwide stature in the global efforts to mitigate losses due to the cereal rust diseases and Fusarium head blight. He was highly supportive of the scientists and support staff at the CDL.

 

He was an avid gardener, as seen by his beautifully landscaped backyard.  He also tried his hand at breeding azaleas.He was a dedicated athlete, having competed  (and finishing!!) in the Iron Man competition in Hawaii. He could often be seen biking on the Gateway trail in St Paul, and in the pool at the St. Paul Gym.