University says goodbye to Borlaug
Janet Kubat
Date Modified: 10/22/2009 12:55 PM
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Agri News staff writer
MINNEAPOLIS -- Jeanie Borlaug Laube challenged those attending a memorial service in her father's honor to carry on his work in Africa.
Borlaug, who died at age 95 on Sept. 12, is credited with saving the lives of billions around the world through his introduction of dwarf wheat that was resistant to disease and drought. Borlaug bred the lifesaving wheat in Mexico and was successful in lobbying governments in Asia and Latin America to try the new wheat variety. His efforts in Africa were stymied in the early 1980s and later efforts hampered by the lack of transportation and well-organized governments, though he had made some progress.
The Thursday before he died, Norman Borlaug told his daughter he had a problem.
Laube asked if she could call someone to help, but the enormity of the problem stumped her.
Her father said his problem was Africa, he didn't finish his mission in Africa.
At a University of Minnesota Alumni Association memorial service Oct. 8, Laube asked followers of her father to carry on his work so that no child be born without food to eat.
Laube was the last of several people who spoke at the service, all paying tribute to the man born on a Cresco, Iowa, farm and educated in a one-room schoolhouse in Iowa who rode along with a football player bound for the University of Minnesota.
Borlaug was all set to attend Iowa State Teacher's College, when he was convinced to go north, said Ambassador Kenneth Quinn, president of the World Food Prize Foundation, likening it to whoever convinced Brett Favre to play for the Vikings.
Quinn said he was glad Borlaug came to the University of Minnesota for it was there he saw hunger firsthand. It was the height of the Great Depression. He saw people sleeping in the streets without enough to eat and that impacted him for the rest of his life.
But Borlaug almost didn't make it into the U of M, said U of M president Robert Bruininks. He lacked some coursework the university required, but he was an excellent wrestler and with some tutoring and hard work, Borlaug was admitted.
Borlaug wrestled from 140 pounds to heavyweight, said U of M wrestling coach J Robinson. He was a varsity wrestler who helped introduce the sport to high school players throughout Minnesota. He refereed the first Minnesota State High School Wrestling Tournament.
Borlaug told Robinson he used the determination he learned in wrestling when he had to sell the prime minister of India on the value of his new wheat. The match was too important to lose, Robinson said Borlaug told him on more than one occasion.
Borlaug only lost one match, Quinn said. It was when he asked the Nobel prize committee to start a prize for agriculture. He was turned away. Borlaug then started the World Food Prize that will be given away this week in Iowa.
Quinn said he thinks of Borlaug as an Iowa-Minnesota hybrid.
"Let it be said that he saved more lives than any other person who ever lived," Quinn said.