PIRONE, Pascal P(ompey) 1907-2003

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born October 7, 1907, in Mount Vernon, NY; died January 11, 2003, in Lexington, KY. Plant pathologist, horticulturist, broadcaster, educator, and author. Pirone was a horticulturist and adult educator at the New York Botanical Garden from 1947 to 1974. He was a landscape maintenance consultant for the headquarters building of the United Nations in New York City and a collaborator with the city of New York in the protection and therapeutic treatment of city greenery. Pirone was also a popular guest on radio programs, including the "phone-in" series Garden Hot Line, and a frequent contributor to magazines. Early in his career, Pirone had participated in a U.S. Department of Agriculture project to battle Dutch elm disease, and he was considered an expert in plant pathology. One of the disease-causing fungi that he discovered was later named after him. Pirone also spent some fifteen years teaching at Cornell University and later at Rutgers University. Pirone wrote several books, including Modern Gardening: A Complete Guide to the Agricultural Uses of Modern Chemistry's Miracle Drugs, first published in 1952. Twenty years later, in the fourth edition of his book Maintenance of Shade and Ornamental Trees, he acknowledged that some of these "miracle drugs," with their inherent dangers to man and the environment, must be used with great caution, if at all. Pirone's other writings include What's New in Gardening, Tree Maintenance, and (as coauthor) Open Space in Urban Design.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

periodicals

New York Times, January 20, 2003, obituary by Eric Nagourney, p. A20.