Obituaries
Peter Berck
1950-2018
Peter Berck, one of the world’s foremost forestry economists and a professor in University of California, Berkeley’s (UC Berkeley) Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ARE), died of cancer on August 10 at age 68.
Berck earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from UC Berkeley and a doctorate in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He returned to campus as an assistant professor in 1976, where he remained for the duration of his career. Berck never retired, continuing to advise students and conduct research even as his illness worsened, according to his wife, Cyndi Berck.
“Peter was probably the most beloved professor in any field,” Cyndi Berck said. “He had an open door policy in his office — he always had tea and coffee and loved hearing his students’ life stories.”
Cyndi Berck said her husband had a love of the outdoors that began after he joined the Boy Scouts of America while growing up in New York. He became involved in leadership positions with the Boy Scouts as a district chair and assistant scoutmaster of Berkeley Troop 6 when his youngest son joined the organization.
“He wanted to expand ethnic diversity in the sense that scouting is for everyone,” Cyndi Berck said. “He was supportive of progress in the last several years of opening the scouts up regardless of sexual orientation or gender and he was in a position to be part of that process.”
Peter Berck’s love for the outdoors translated into his academic pursuits — he wrote more than 100 research papers on a variety of topics, including forestry economics, management of natural resources and agricultural adaptation to climate change, according to Cyndi Berck.
Peter Berck recently developed a computer model to simulate impacts of environmental regulation on the California economy, which is now widely used by the California government to inform the state’s fiscal policy, according to the ARE website. Cyndi Berck said her husband used this model to analyze the impacts of California greenhouse gas regulation, which determined that moving toward renewable energy would reduce the price of energy in California.
Though a prominent researcher, Peter Berck was also well-known for his dedication to his students, according to ARE professor Jeffrey Perloff. Upon hearing of Peter Berck’s illness, some of his former graduate students created a Facebook page dedicated to him that received more than 900 comments, according to Perloff. He added that “not many people can generate that kind of love.”
ARE professor Sofia Villas-Boas said some people on the Facebook page created the term “BERCKonomics” — the capitalized letters stand for bonding over environment, resources, coffee and kindness — to summarize Peter Berck’s legacy. Villas-Boas said that although there were many qualities repeated in the comments to describe Peter Berck, the quality most often noted was that “he brought us all together.”
“We had a connecting open door between our offices and we became really good friends,” Villas-Boas said. “Later we realized that I was like his sister and he was my brother. It was really a blessing.”
Peter Berck is survived by his wife, three children —David, Michelle and Joseph — his brother, Alan, and four grandchildren.
Bino Témé
1955-2018
Bino Témé, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics (AFRE) associate professor of international development, passed away on August 4, 2018 in Bamako, Mali, after a long battle with cancer.
Dr. Témé was a coordinator of MSU’s Mali-based research, outreach and capacity-strengthening programs since 2015. He holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics from the University of Dijon (France) and previously served for 12 years as Director General of Mali’s national agricultural research institute (IER) and as Director of Mali’s Planning and Statistics Unit for Rural Development, where he oversaw the development of the Malian government’s agricultural development strategy and investment plans.
“Bino was an outstanding scholar, mentor, and administrator,” said AFRE chairperson Titus Awokuse. “His many colleagues will miss his keen insights, strong sense of partnership and wonderful sense of humor.”
Although Témé only formally joined MSU in 2015, he was a collaborator and friend of the department for over 30 years. His partnership with MSU began with the start of the food security research and outreach program in Mali in 1985, when he was a researcher in the Institut d’Economie Rurale (IER), Mali’s national agricultural research service. He continued working with AFRE faculty and graduate students in joint projects as he took progressively more responsible roles in IER, culminating in serving as the organization’s Director General for 12 years. After leaving IER, he was named to lead Mali’s Planning and Statistics Unit for rural development, the main policy planning unit for agricultural development of the Malian government. Following two years of leading that unit, he lead MSU’s Bamako office.
Throughout his career Bino Témé was deeply committed to capacity building. Every year he supervised groups of IER interns from the local agricultural university, and served on the thesis research committees of many doctoral candidates. His commitment to education led him to take on the role of drafting Mali’s higher education policy. Together with his spouse, Anta Témé, he hosted many rural students who came to the capital city of Bamako for their high school education. At the same time he maintained close contact with his extended family in the Pays Dogon region of Mali, and served as the head of their community development organization.
“Few people have touched so many lives, so profoundly, from the most remote villages in Mali to the agricultural research communities of Africa, Europe and the United States,” said Duncan Boughton, close friend and AFRE colleague of Témé’s.
Témé was internationally renowned as an advocate for agricultural research and sustainable agricultural development. He was named Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mali (one of Mali’s highest civilian awards) by the President of Mali for his contributions to the country and awarded decorated with the Ordre du Mérite Agricole by the government of France for his contributions to international cooperation in agricultural research. Both the
Prime Minister of Mali and the Minister of Agriculture attended his funeral in Bamako. But above all, it was his warm humanity that his friends remember. Michel Petit, his former major professor in France and a previous President of the International Association of Agricultural Economists summed it up best when he said that Bino had many qualities but was “mainly a wonderful gentleman.”
Lee F. Schrader
1933-2018
Dr. Lee F. Schrader, 85 of Hudson, WI, formerly of West Lafayette, died peacefully on April 21, 2018. He was born March 11, 1933 in Okawville, IL to Frederick and Alma Schrader. He was a 1st Lieutenant in the Army. He received his bachelor's degree in General Economics from the University of Illinois. He received his Masters and Doctorate in Agricultural Economics from Michigan State University and University of California respectively. He was a professor of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University for 33 years. As part of his work for Purdue, he traveled to over 30 countries. He spent time as a visiting professor at Harvard University, the USDA and the University of Kiel, West Germany. He co-authored a book and over 100 articles. For many years he was considered the egg and poultry pricing expert in the industry. After retirement he spent many hours volunteering at the Habitat for Humanity and the Historic farm at Prophetstown. He loved spending time with family and friends. He was a patient and attentive grandfather and participated in any silliness his grandchildren came up with. His boyhood on a southern Illinois farm left him with a lifetime interest in John Deere tractors, steam powered threshing equipment and clean fence rows. He enjoyed working outdoors at his farms and was a jack of all trades.
Lee always had a project going and was happy to help others with theirs. It seemed as if he could build or repair anything.Surviving are his beloved Martha, his wife of 59 years, his children Mark (Melissa) Schrader of Sedona, AZ, Katy (Eugene) McCarthy of Sammamish, WA, Amanda (Andrew) Marg of Hudson, WI and 9 grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his grandson Ryan.