Andre Tridon Jagendorf

Andre Tridon Jagendorf died at the age of 90 on March 13, 2017 at Kendal in
Ithaca, New York. He was born to Sophie and Moritz Jagendorf on October 21,
1926 in Manhattan. Predeceased by his parents, his sister, Merna, and his son,
Daniel, he is survived by his wife, Jean, his daughters, Suzanne and Judith, eight
grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren, and two nieces. Andre graduated from
Cornell University with a B.S. in Plant Physiology in 1948, earned his PhD in
Biophysics in 1951 at Yale University, followed by two years at UCLA when he
was awarded a Merck Postdoctoral fellowship. Andre became an Assistant
Professor at the Johns Hopkins University in 1953, an Associate Professor in 1958,
and a Full Professor in 1966. He then returned in that year to Cornell University as
a Professor of Plant Physiology, and became the Liberty Hyde Professor in 1981.
Since 1997, Andre has been the Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor Emeritus in the
Department of Plant Biology, and he continued to work on a research project in the
laboratory of Dr. Robert Turgeon until the very last weeks of his life. Andre is
known for his groundbreaking work in the process of photosynthesis, which paved
the way for a new field in science. He was also a pioneer in many aspects of
chloroplast molecular biology, including the discovery of a gene for the enzyme
responsible for DNA repair and recombination in chloroplasts. He became the
President of the American Society of Plant Physiologists in 1967. He received the
Charles F. Kettering Award of that Society in 1978. Andre was elected to the
National Academy of Sciences in 1980. He then received the Charles Reid Barnes
Life Membership Award of the American Society of Plant Physiologists in 1989. In
2012, he received a Life Time Achievement Award from the Rebeiz Foundation for
Basic Research. The citation from that award stated that Andre proved himself as a
nonconformist who broke new grounds in science using a rare combination of
imagination, meticulous scrutiny of experimental results, and the ability to devise
ingenious experiments that gave answers to major unsolved mechanisms in
science. In addition to his serious side, Andre was famous for his jokes. He was
ever ready to tell a joke-of-the-day because he liked to see people laugh. He was
warmly loved, and he will be greatly missed. His final resting place will be in the
Greensprings Natural Cemetery. Following his wishes, there will be no services or
memorial gatherings. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to The Southern
Poverty Law Center ( PO Box 548, Montgomery, AL 36101-0548) or to a charity
of choice.