Biographies of Instrumental IFTA Members
Learn about the IFTA members who have led the organization and shaped the fruit industry.
Dr. H.B. Tukey
1896-1971
Harold B. Tukey laid the intellectual foundation for IFTA. His publication Dwarfed Fruit Trees (1964) discussed the history and many advantages of dwarfing rootstock. He helped convince a skeptical grower community that dwarfing rootstocks would improve fruit quality, increase production, and return profits to growers sooner.
In 1920, Tukey began as an assistant horticulturalist with the New York Experiment Station in Geneva, New York. By 1932 he had earned a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He served as professor of Pomology at Cornell University until 1945 when he became the head of the Department of Horticultural at Michigan State.
Dr. Robert Carlson
1909-1998
Robert Carlson (“Dr. Bob”) was appointed the first Secretary of IFTA. He began his career in horticulture as a student of H.B. Tukey at the Geneva Research Station. He eventually followed Tukey to Michigan State University where he would focus his research on dwarfing rootstock. At MSU he served as a professor of horticulture at Michigan State University from 1946 to 1979.
He helped organize the first IFTA meeting and is credited with creating the first IFTA publication that would eventually become the Compact Fruit Grower. Carlson partnered with fruit grower Ray Klackle (Belding, MI) to plant the first large-scale orchard of apples on size-controlling rootstocks. Later in his career he spearheaded the North Central Pome and Stone Fruit rootstock trials which would eventually become the NC-140 rootstock trial which has become one of the most valued rootstock trials in the world.
