Goro Uehara, a Fellow of SSSA, ASA, CSSA and the American Association
for the Advancement of Science and an internationally acclaimed soil
scientist who served as Professor, Department of Tropical Plant and Soil
Sciences, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources,
University of Hawaii, died on January 2, 2012.

Born in Hawaii, Uehara earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees from the
University of Hawaii and his Ph.D. from Michigan State University. He
served the University of Hawaii from 1959 to 2011. Uehara’s
accomplishments in integrating basic soil science research to achieve
production and environmental targets in agricultural sciences were
indeed pioneering. An early milestone was a book entitled “The
mineralogy, chemistry, and physics of tropical soils with variable
charge clays”, published in 1981. Apart from research on mineralogy,
chemistry, and the physics of soil with variable charge clays, Uehara
was a lead scientist with the following international projects supported
by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Benchmark
Soils Project (1974-1983), the International Benchmark Sites Network for
Agrotechnology Transfer (IBSNAT) Project (1983-1993), the TropSoils
Project/Soil Management CRSP (1984-2007), and a technical assistance and
capacity building grant in East Timor (2003-2006). Uehara’s latest
research program (2006-2011) focused on investigating the feasibility of
producing clean, renewable energy in the tropics.

Uehara was appointed by President William Clinton to serve as a member
of Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD);
served as science liaison advisor for USAID to the International
Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and Director, Management
Entity, Soil Management Collaborative Research Support Program (SM
CRSP). He also served as a USAID panel member to review the research
agenda for the International Board for Soils Research and Agricultural
Management (IBSRAM) and to review and evaluate the performance of the
International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC). Uehara served as
president and member of the Board of Directors for International
Consortium for Agricultural Systems Application (ICASA) – a non-profit
organization based in Honolulu-- since its inception in 1994.

Uehara directed thesis studies for 34 graduate students and served on
thesis committees for another 100 graduate students and was honored by
University of Hawaii as its Outstanding Alumnus. And throughout, Uehara
very generously gave back to his field of study. For example, several
years ago, Uehara established the Carolyn and Goro Uehara Scholarship
for Women in Agriculture to improve educational opportunities for women
in agricultural science and technology. He is survived by his wife,
Carolyn; his sons, Keith and Jeff, and daughters Sandra and Diana, and 8
grandchildren.

Uehara will be inurned at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
He was a veteran of the U.S. Army during the Korean War. Anyone wishing
to donate in Goro Uehara's name can do so, writing a check to the UH
Foundation specifying that it is for the Goro Uehara scholarship fund.

Upendra Singh
IFDC