Martin John Bukovac

Dr. Martin John Bukovac, University Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Horticulture Department at Michigan State University (MSU), died Sunday, January 5, 2025, at Burcham Hills Retirement Community in East Lansing, Michigan. He was 95 years old.

John is preceded in death by his wife, Judy (Judith Ann Kelley), his infant daughter, Nancy Ann; parents, Sadie (Fak) and John Bukovac, and his older sister, Mary A. Vodopic. John is survived by his daughter, Dr. Janice Bukovac-Phelps; his grandchildren, Morgan Rosentreter and Brandt Rosentreter, and his younger sister, Ruby Bukovac Hardy. He leaves many relatives, friends and colleagues in the United States, Canada, Croatia and around the world.

John was born in the rough coal-mining town of Johnson City in southern Illinois on November 12, 1929. When his father chose to leave the coal mining industry, his family moved to a fruit and vegetable farm near Paw Paw, Michigan when John was 10 years old. John attended Paw Paw High School, graduating in June of 1947. That fall he enrolled at Michigan State University.

John said that he was motivated to get educated so he would not have to raise cucumbers. John went on to earn his BS, MS, and PhD in Horticulture from MSU. During the Cold War (1951 - 1953), John served as a US Army tank unit commander along the West/East German border. While stationed in Germany he had the opportunity to visit Croatia and meet relatives and see where his parents were raised. John noted that his military training was essential to the development of his approach to research and communication: organized, focused, and direct.

John joined the Horticulture Department faculty at MSU in 1957. Over the next 40 years, John was the advisor to 18 M.S. and 17 Ph.D. students and mentored 41 postdoctoral students and visiting scientists. John’s career was dedicated to development of plant growth regulators for fruit tree growers to improve the quality of their crop and the profitability of their farm.

His approach was to focus on fundamental aspects of horticulture and translate those findings to meaningful applications within the fruit industry. His laboratory pioneered research on apple and cherry fruit physiology, commercial uses of plant growth regulators, the fundamentals of cuticular penetration, and spray application technology.

His research and guidance eventually led to the commercialization of ethephon for cherry abscission, gibberellic acid for pasture grass production, abscisic acid for grape coloration, an improved benzyladenine formulation, and aminocyclopropane carboxylyic acid for apple and stone fruit thinning. John’s pioneering work continues to impact the fruit industries. At some level, his handiwork is evident for each of us in the fruit we eat. The plant growth regulators he helped develop permit, for instance, mechanized harvest of tart cherry, improved apple and peach fruit size, and more intense coloration of fresh and processed fruit products.

John’s contributions to science in general and to the agriculture industry in particular earned him numerous national and international scientific awards including membership in the United States National Academy of Sciences. John was a leader in the American Society for Horticultural Science, recipient of an honorary doctoral degree from the University of Bonn (Germany), and appointed MSU Distinguished Professor who was ever committed to the betterment of the Horticulture Department at MSU.

As a scientist, John dedicated his career to the advancement of the Michigan apple and cherry fruit industries. In 2016, he generously endowed the Martin and Judith Bukovac Professorship in Tree Fruit Physiology in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at MSU to support a faculty position focused on the study of applied tree fruit research and outreach to the industry. John actively mentored students and faculty in the Horticulture Department even after his retirement in 1996, continuing to influence future leaders in horticultural science as recently as 2024.

John will be truly missed.


FOTO: Private