He might be gone from the turf business in an official capacity, but Peter Dernoeden, Ph.D., doesnt appear to be going anywhere any time soon.Dernoeden, 65, a widely published turfgrass pathologist serving the industry for more than 30 years, retired this week from his position at the University of Maryland. Although he no longer is working out of his College Park office, he said he hopes to continue his work as a consultant after he and wife Kathleen relocate to Delaware.
A native of the Philadelphia area, Dernoeden earned bachelors and masters degrees from Colorado State University. He joined the Maryland faculty in 1980 shortly after earning a doctorate in plant pathology from the University of Rhode Island. Two years later he started the schools turfgrass field day, which has grown into one of the industrys most highly regarded annual research events.
"Peter Dernoeden is one of the top turfgrass pathologists in the world. He has had a major and very positive impact on turf managers not on in Maryland, but throughout the U.S. and abroad," said Rutgers turfgrass professor Bruce Clarke, Ph.D. "He has been a dedicated mentor to his students, a tremendous asset to his colleagues, and a friend to everyone in the industry. His departure leaves a very big void in the scientific community. I will miss seeing him at professional meetings and wish him the very best in his retirement."
Dernoeden, whose areas of expertise include weed and disease management in turf as well as development of integrated pest management strategies, is a prolific writer. He authored or co-authored several books on various turf management topics, including Turfgrass: Biology, Use and Management (American Society of Agronomy, 2013), which he co-authored with John Stier, Ph.D., Brian Horgan, Ph.D., and Stacy Bonos, Ph.D. He counted his work at Maryland on etiology, epidemiology and management of dead spot, spring dead spot, patch diseases, dollar spot and Pythium-induced root dysfunction among his most important work.
He served turf managers in Maryland through extension work and reaches others outside the state through his vast amounts of peer-reviewed research.
"Dr. Dernoeden's retirement will leave a large hole to fill in turfgrass pathology. Superintendents not only in the Mid-Atlantic but around the world have come to rely on the insight that Pete has brought over the years in managing healthy turfgrass," said Mike Giuffre, director of greens and grounds maintenance at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md. "Pete was always there to support superintendents in maintaining healthy turf to meet the expectations of the golfing public. He tirelessly made field visits to golf courses to help whenever called upon. His work in the field of pathology is second to none, providing insight to superintendents on turf diseases, their life cycles, cultural controls as well as chemical controls. Pete brought to the table a unique combination of a thorough knowledge of disease pathogens and course conditioning practices. He used this knowledge to provide common sense approaches to managing turfgrass diseases."
When reflecting on his career, Dernoeden credits Jack Butler, Ph.D., and Noel Jackson, Ph.D., formerly of Colorado State and URI, respectively, with helping him along the way.
"They were my mentors and helped me greatly," Dernoeden said by email. "(I) had a lot of support from the Maryland Turfgrass Council, Mid-Atlantic and Eastern Shore of golf course superintendents, USGA, as well as ag. chemical companies like Syngenta, BASF, Bayer, Dow and others."
Cornell University associate professor and fellow URI graduate Frank S. Rossi, Ph.D., said Dernoeden helped him in the formative years of his career, and that his dedication to tirelessly assisting others was a result of working under Jackson.
"Pete did a lot of important work. He was always very busy, but he always found time to return my phone calls," Rossi said. "He helped me a lot in my early days.
"Pete held himself to high standards because Noel held all of us to those standards."