Frederick Wilson Popenoe (March 9, 1892 – June 20, 1975) was an American Department of Agriculture employee and plant explorer. From 1916 to 1924, Popenoe explored Latin America to look for new strains of

avocado The avocado (''Persea americana'') is a medium-sized, evergreen tree in the laurel family (Lauraceae). It is native to the Americas and was first domesticated by Mesoamerican tribes more than 5,000 years ago. Then as now it was prized for i ...

s. He reported his adventures to the ''

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, and ...

''. He went to work for the

U.S. Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

in 1913 and became the chief

agronomist An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.), is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the ...

of the

United Fruit Company The United Fruit Company (now Chiquita) was an American multinational corporation that traded in tropical fruit (primarily bananas) grown on Latin American plantations and sold in the United States and Europe. The company was formed in 1899 fro ...

in 1925.

Career

Popenoe attended

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became ...

as a special student for one year. Afterwards, he worked for the United Fruit Company, where he became the first director of the Panamerican Agricultural School, Zamorano in

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

. Popenoe won numerous awards and received three honorary doctorates, from: Universidad Mayor de San Marcos in

Lima, Peru Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

; Pomona College; and the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gaine ...

Personal life

Popenoe was married to the British archeologist

Dorothy Popenoe Dorothy Popenoe (19 June 1899 – 30 December 1932; born Dorothy Kate Hughes) was an English archaeologist, botanist, and scientific illustrator. Popenoe attended the Welsh Girls' School in Ashford until the beginning of World War I when ...

, who was involved in excavation of the

Playa de los Muertos Playa de los Muertos (Beach of the Dead) is an archaeological site from the Mesoamerican chronology, Middle Formative period and is located on the Honduras north coast, in the Ulua River, Ulua valley,Joyce, Rosemary A. and John S. Henderson 2001 B ...

. His brother was agricultural explorer, eugenicist, and marriage counselor

Paul Popenoe Paul Bowman Popenoe (October 16, 1888 – June 19, 1979) was an American agricultural explorer and eugenicist. He was an influential advocate of the compulsory sterilization of mentally ill people and people with mental disabilities, and the fa ...

References

External links

Biography of Wilson Popenoe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Popenoe, Wilson 1892 births 1975 deaths United States Department of Agriculture officials American naturalists Pomona College alumni 20th-century naturalists American expatriates in Honduras