Substantial gifts to memorialize 'Mr. Soybean'

A $208,000 contribution to Mississippi State from a Leland widow will establish an endowed fund to continue the research of her late husband, a longtime university employee and internationally recognized agronomist.

Mrs. Winifred B. Hartwig of Leland has named the university as the beneficiary of the charitable gift annuity, which will establish the Edgar E. and Winifred B. Hartwig Endowed Fund for Excellence, as well as provide Mrs. Hartwig with an income for life. The Hartwig Fund for Excellence primarily will support graduate assistantships in the department of plant and soil sciences.

Mrs. Hartwig also has designated Mississippi State as the beneficiary of her estate, according to Charles Weatherly, director of development for the Division of Agriculture, Forestry, and Veterinary Medicine. When the university receives the bequest, it will substantially boost the Hartwig Fund for Excellence, as well as establish a proposed Edgar E. and Winifred B. Hartwig Endowed Chair in Plant Breeding, also in the department of plant and soil sciences.

Mrs. Winifred Hartwig of Leland signs the guidelines establishing the Edgar E. and Winifred B. Hartwig Fund for Excellence at Mississippi State University as President Donald W. Zacharias looks on.

Edgar Hartwig, known in agronomy circles as "Mr. Soybean," died last May at the age of 83. During a career that spanned more than half a century, he is credited with developing 90 percent of the soybean varieties grown in the South. Hartwig was an adjunct professor of agronomy at Mississippi State at the time of his death.

"Dr. Hartwig's name is synonymous with soybeans across the country and the world," said Mississippi State President Donald W. Zacharias. "His work through the years brought great recognition not only to himself but to this university and this state. Through Mrs. Hartwig's generosity and love, her husband's important work will continue at Mississippi State for many years to come."

He was a world-class research scientist and his work benefited many countries around the world, said Zacharias.

The Mississippi Soybean Promotion Board also has pledged $200,000 to Mississippi State to establish the Edgar E. Hartwig Endowed Fund for Soybean Research at the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station's Delta Branch in Stoneville.

A native of Minnesota, Dr. Hartwig received a bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota and master's and doctoral degrees in agronomy and plant breeding from the University of Illinois.

He came to Mississippi State's Delta Branch of the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station in Stoneville in 1949 as a USDA research agronomist for soybean production research. He previously had worked with the Florida and North Carolina agricultural experiment stations.

Hartwig's research made soybeans a viable crop in the Mid-South and a leading cash crop in the U.S. A leading aspect of his work was the breeding of multiple-pest-resistant varieties. His collection of publications and papers, housed at the Delta Branch, will be made available for student instruction and research at Mississippi State.

Mrs. Hartwig, also a native of Minnesota, received her bachelor's degree in home economics from the University of Minnesota, where she met her husband. Through the years, Mrs. Hartwig has been a teacher, a homemaker, a rosarian, and an accomplished artist.

Weatherly said that the Hartwig Fund for Excellence has been the beneficiary of several memorial gifts from friends and associates of Dr. Hartwig, and that additional memorial gifts may be added to the fund. For more information on making a contribution to the endowed fund, contact Weatherly in Mississippi State's Office of Development at 662-325-3410.