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OBITUARIES
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Abraham
H. Halevy
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Abraham
H. Halevy
Abraham H. Halevy
was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 1927. He completed his PhD studies in
1958, and in 1964 he established the Department of Floriculture at the
Faculty of Agriculture of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Abe, as he was known
by his many friends, was one of the best-known Israeli plant scientists
and a world-recognized leader in the field of floriculture and ornamental
horticulture. He was the founder of the Israeli flower industry and the
initiator of teaching and research on this topic in Israeli academic institutes.
The research projects
Abe was involved with encompass almost all theoretical and practical aspects
of floriculture. His research was motivated both by the needs of the rapidly
expanding Israeli floriculture and ornamental industry and by the quest
to decipher the elusive floral induction mechanism. During his postdoctoral
research with H. M. Cathey at USDA at Beltsville, Maryland (1958–1959),
he became aware of the tremendous potential of growth retardants and other
plant growth regulators for improving plant performance. Thus, the role
of plant hormones in plant developmental processes became a central theme
in Abe’s research. He investigated floral induction in citrus, rose,
and other ornamentals; sex expression in cucurbits; and senescence of
flower organs, all from the hormonal standpoint, without neglecting the
effects of light, temperature, and other environmental cues. Aspects of
postharvest physiology and handling of ornamentals received his special
attention because of their practical significance. Abe strived toward
the elucidation of floral induction in model plants such as Pharbitis
nil, examining the role of plant hormones, calcium, and lipids.
He went abroad searching
for new ornamental plants, brought them to Israel, studied their floral
physiology, and introduced them as new ornamental crops for Israeli growers.
Some of these plants eventually became major cut flowers worldwide, among
them Chamelaucium (wax flower) and Gypsophila. His acquaintance
with a large number of flowering plants prompted him to compile the six-volume
Handbook of Flowering (Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, 1985–1989),
which described the flowering of well over 300 botanical species.
Abe published his
results in nearly 400 scientific articles. In addition to his permanent
professorship at the Hebrew University, he served for many years as a
visiting professor at the University of California, Davis. He was the
initiator and first editor of the Flowering Newsletter and founder
of the International Working Group on Flowering. He received numerous
awards and prizes, including the Prize of Israel for Agriculture in 2002.
Abe’s numerous
students and colleagues will remember him as a warm, friendly, and highly
inspiring person who was always eager and excited about science.
Eliezer E. Goldschmidt
Raffi Goren
David Weiss
The Robert H. Smith Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics in Agriculture
The Kennedy–Leigh Centre of Horticulture, Faculty of Agricultural,
Food and Environmental Quality Sciences
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
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