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Marshal McGlamery, Former University of Illinois Extension Weed Specialist, Dies

Gil Gullickson 01/31/2013 @ 9:39am Crops Technology Editor for Successful Farming magazine/Agriculture.com

Those of you who sat in on field days and meetings where Marshal McGlamery spoke always were in for a treat.

McGlamery, who served Illinois farmers for 35 years before retiring as Extension weed specialist in 2000, was an editor's dream. Besides livening up a presentation with a headstand, he always had a way of explaining a complicated subject in a few words. My predecessor who handled the seeds and chemical beat at Successful Farming, Mike Holmberg, described it best in a February 2004 column.

"One of his more memorable talks dealt with the practice of creating new herbicide premixes. McGlamery referred to it as the "can 'em and confuse 'em" strategy because the companies wanted customers to believe they had a hot new product, when all they really had was a premix of a couple existing products."

Marshal McGlamery died last Friday at the age of 80 in Suffolk, Virginia. He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Marilyn, and sons Paul and Steve, and four grandchildren. (For more information, go to http://www.news-gazette.com/obituaries/2013-01-30/marshal-mcglamery.html.

Aaron Hager, current U of I Extension weed specialist, gave this tribute to McGlamery when he retired from the U of I in 2000.

"This year, we say thanks and good-bye to a highly valued colleague. After 35 years of service to Illinois producers, Dr. Marshal McGlamery retired from the University of Illinois on February 29, 2000. During his long and productive career, Mac was widely known and highly regarded for his unbiased assessment of weed-management strategies. He received numerous awards for his extension and teaching efforts, all of which bear affirmative testimony of his dedication and unselfishness. His first and foremost concern was always what was best for the producer.

I first met Mac in 1993, and since that time I have continued to benefit from his breadth of knowledge. I've spent countless hours in Mac's office listening to him explain seemingly impossible problems in a very logical and basic manner. He has been a valuable resource for identification of weed samples, crop injury samples, contributions to the Bulletin, winter meetings, field days, and providing insight into some of the reasons "things" happen the way they often do in the weed science industry. His personification of what an Extension weed scientist should be may very well be Mac's greatest legacy.

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