Wenatchee, WA
Jan 5 2020 – Wenatchee World
Stanley Charles “Stan” Hoyt, age 90, a 62-year resident of the
Wenatchee area, passed away on November 30, 2019.
Stan was born on October 4, 1929, in Alameda, CA, to Fred and
Elphie Hoyt. He received his early education in Oakland, CA, graduating from
Castlemont High School in 1947, Valedictorian of his class.
He received a B.S. in Entomology from the University of
California, Berkeley in 1951, and attended graduate school there in 1952. He
was a member of Theta Chi Fraternity.
After serving two years in the Army, stationed in Korea with the
48th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital and studying hemorrhagic fever, he returned
to coursework at Berkeley, completing a Ph.D. in 1957.
He married Beverley Jeanne Carpenter at Berkeley, CA, on August 6,
1955, living in Lafayette and Walnut Creek, CA, before moving to Wenatchee.
In 1957, Stan joined the staff at the Washington State University
Tree Fruit Research Center (TFRC) in Wenatchee as a Research Entomologist. He
worked in that capacity until 1982, becoming Superintendent of the Center and
serving in that post until retirement, in 1993. In 1970, Stan received a
Fulbright Award, spending nine months, along with his family, in Nelson, South
Island, New Zealand, where he worked for the New Zealand Department of
Scientific and Industrial Research. He was a member of the Entomological
Society of America, receiving the Chemical Industries Basel- GEIGY Recognition
Award (1973), and the C.W. Woodworth Award—Pacific branch (1989), also serving
as President of the Pacific Branch in 1983.
The focus of Stan’s scholarship, sustainable integrated pest
management, led to ground-breaking research investigating the disruption of
biological control of spider mites by a predatory mite species in apples. At a
time of crisis in the apple industry, when control of spider mite pests with
pesticides was nearly useless, Stan’s research identified a predator of spider
mites that was surviving in a few orchards. His subsequent research lead to a
program that combined selective pesticides to control other apple pests while
the predator mite provided complete control of spider mites. The program Stan
developed was adopted by the Washington apple industry and laid the foundation
for conservation biological control as the most successful and durable
integrated biological control program in its history. Based on Stan’s research,
he was recognized internationally as the “Father of Integrated Mite
Management.”
In October of 2019, Stan was recognized for his contributions to
the apple industry with the naming of the WSU TFRC Entomology building in his
honor.
Stan was a Paul Harris Fellow and 36-year member of the Wenatchee
Rotary Club, member and President of the Board of Directors of the Community
Resource Center, served on the boards of the Wenatchee Valley Symphony, United
Way, and the Wenatchee Valley College Foundation. He was Chair of the KFAE
Public Radio advisory board which was instrumental in bringing Northwest Public
Radio to Wenatchee. In honor of Stan’s volunteer service and various
contributions to the apple industry, he was named Apple Citizen of the Year for
1993 by the Washington State Apple Blossom Festival.
In addition to his public service, Stan enjoyed music, performing
with the Columbia Flute Society for almost 20 years. He and his family were
also active in the Sew & So 4-H Club of Wenatchee for many years.
When not working or playing music, Stan could be found in the
out-of-doors, spending many free hours fly fishing, hiking, and skiing in the
Cascades and British Columbia. He had a keen love of insects, animals, birds,
and plants of all forms and could identify most all by their animal and
biological taxonomies. His other hobbies included photography, gardening, and
watching sports, WSU Cougar and Seattle Seahawks football in particular. Stan
and Beverley travelled extensively in their retirement years and participated
in more than forty elderhostel programs around the globe.
Survivors include his wife of 64 years, Beverley of Wenatchee, WA;
daughter, Kathleen (Mike Kentley) Hoyt; grandson, Kieran of Bend, OR; son,
David (Chris) Hoyt of Pullman, WA; granddaughter, Ariana (Jon) McDonnell of
Seattle, WA; brother, Jim Hoyt of Seattle, WA; and many nieces and nephews. He
was preceded in death by daughter, Kristine Hoyt.
A Celebration of Life will be held at 2:00 p.m., Saturday,
February 1, 2020, at the Wenatchee Golf and Country Club, 1600 Country Club
Drive, East Wenatchee, WA.
Those wishing to honor Stan may make a charitable donation to the
Stanley and Beverley Hoyt Tree Fruit Excellence Fund, Attn: Britta Nitcy, WSU
CAHNRS, P.O. Box 646228, Pullman, WA 99164-6228. This fund will support
teaching, graduate student research in Integrated Pest Management, and Tree
Fruit Entomology at the Wenatchee Tree Fruit and Extension Center.
You are invited to visit his tribute online at
www.HeritageMemorial Chapel.com
and leave a memory. Arrangements are in the care of Heritage Memorial Chapel,
East Wenatchee, WA.
https://www.wenatcheeworld.com/tributes/in_memoriam/stanley-charles-stan-hoyt/article_c3284b20-c90b-507b-a3e8-4b62346bbe89.html
