Obituary for John Allen Witter
John Allen Witter, Ph. D., age 76, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, died unexpectedly at home on Tuesday, August 4, 2020. He was the happiest, most enthusiastic and most optimistic person you could ever meet, and he had often said that these recent years, despite health challenges, were the absolute happiest time of his entire life.
John was born September 2, 1943, in Jamestown, New York, to parents Charles and Edna Mae (Ferguson) Witter. He was raised in Charlottesville, Virginia, with his sisters, Gladys and Mildred, where he played Little League baseball (1st base) and other sports, was active in University Baptist Church youth group and choir, acted as manager for the football team while a student at Lane High School, and participated in Boy Scouts, rising to the level of Eagle Scout. He also sold Christmas trees for many years for the Kiwanis Club.
After graduating from high school in 1961, John attended Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, where he obtained a BS degree in Forest Management in 1965 and an MS degree in Entomology in 1967. His Master’s thesis focused on use of ladybird beetles to control the balsam woolly aphid on Mt. Mitchell, North Carolina. He then moved to the University of Minnesota, where he received his Ph.D. in 1971, with a major in Entomology and a minor in Forestry. His dissertation focused on the ecology and population dynamics of the forest tent caterpillar.
John joined the faculty of the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources in 1972 as an Assistant Professor of Forest Entomology. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1976, and Professor of Entomology and Forest Dynamics in 1984. From 2000-2010, John held the George Willis Pack Professorship in Forest Entomology. During his 39 years at U of M, he was very active and enthusiastic as both a researcher and teacher. He co-authored a well-known textbook, Forest Entomology: Ecology and Management, as well as authoring and co-authoring hundreds of journal articles, technical reports, handbooks, video productions, and other materials. He collaborated extensively with both the USDA Forest Service and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, as well as with colleagues at both Michigan State University and Michigan Technological University, where he was an Adjunct Professor of Forestry. His research interests revolved around a variety of forest insects and other forest health disturbances in both rural and urban forests, such as tent caterpillar, spruce budworm, gypsy moth, beech bark disease, and air pollution. He served on numerous steering and advisory committees and technical panels, and was a regional trainer for the Forest Health Monitoring/Forest Inventory and Analysis programs of the USDA Forest Service for many years.
John deeply enjoyed teaching, both in the classroom and in the field, and it was this that he missed most after his retirement in 2011. In addition to teaching on the Ann Arbor campus, he taught for many years at Camp Filibert Roth in Iron County in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where he served as the Director for several sessions, and later at the U of M Biological Station in Pellston, Michigan. His teaching portfolio included courses such as Biology and Management of Insects, Insect Ecology, Agricultural and Forest Pest Management, Habitats and Organisms, Integrative Field Studies, Introduction to Natural Resources, and Natural Resource Problem Solving. He chaired more than 70 M.S. and Ph.D. graduate student committees and served as a member on committees for numerous other graduate students.
John was an avid reader, especially of books on sports, history, and nature. He was a dedicated fan of college football and basketball, and particularly enjoyed U of M men’s basketball, for which he was a season ticket holder since 1972 and rarely missed attending a home game.
John is survived by his beloved wife and devoted caregiver, Jennifer Stoyenoff; his daughter, Leslie Witter (Wilsall, MT); his sisters, Gladys (Jim) Wiley (Vienna, VA) and Mildred (Melvin) Spicer (Charlottesville, VA); his niece and nephews, Mary Wiley, Joe (Yudy) Wiley, and Paul (Stuart) Spicer; his great-nieces and great-nephew, Hope and David Wiley and Carson Spicer; his lifelong friend, who was like a brother, Edward “Tuck” (Marionette) Jones (Warrenton, VA); and Leslie’s mother, Nancy Witter (Ann Arbor, MI).
John was born September 2, 1943, in Jamestown, New York, to parents Charles and Edna Mae (Ferguson) Witter. He was raised in Charlottesville, Virginia, with his sisters, Gladys and Mildred, where he played Little League baseball (1st base) and other sports, was active in University Baptist Church youth group and choir, acted as manager for the football team while a student at Lane High School, and participated in Boy Scouts, rising to the level of Eagle Scout. He also sold Christmas trees for many years for the Kiwanis Club.
After graduating from high school in 1961, John attended Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, where he obtained a BS degree in Forest Management in 1965 and an MS degree in Entomology in 1967. His Master’s thesis focused on use of ladybird beetles to control the balsam woolly aphid on Mt. Mitchell, North Carolina. He then moved to the University of Minnesota, where he received his Ph.D. in 1971, with a major in Entomology and a minor in Forestry. His dissertation focused on the ecology and population dynamics of the forest tent caterpillar.
John joined the faculty of the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources in 1972 as an Assistant Professor of Forest Entomology. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1976, and Professor of Entomology and Forest Dynamics in 1984. From 2000-2010, John held the George Willis Pack Professorship in Forest Entomology. During his 39 years at U of M, he was very active and enthusiastic as both a researcher and teacher. He co-authored a well-known textbook, Forest Entomology: Ecology and Management, as well as authoring and co-authoring hundreds of journal articles, technical reports, handbooks, video productions, and other materials. He collaborated extensively with both the USDA Forest Service and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, as well as with colleagues at both Michigan State University and Michigan Technological University, where he was an Adjunct Professor of Forestry. His research interests revolved around a variety of forest insects and other forest health disturbances in both rural and urban forests, such as tent caterpillar, spruce budworm, gypsy moth, beech bark disease, and air pollution. He served on numerous steering and advisory committees and technical panels, and was a regional trainer for the Forest Health Monitoring/Forest Inventory and Analysis programs of the USDA Forest Service for many years.
John deeply enjoyed teaching, both in the classroom and in the field, and it was this that he missed most after his retirement in 2011. In addition to teaching on the Ann Arbor campus, he taught for many years at Camp Filibert Roth in Iron County in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where he served as the Director for several sessions, and later at the U of M Biological Station in Pellston, Michigan. His teaching portfolio included courses such as Biology and Management of Insects, Insect Ecology, Agricultural and Forest Pest Management, Habitats and Organisms, Integrative Field Studies, Introduction to Natural Resources, and Natural Resource Problem Solving. He chaired more than 70 M.S. and Ph.D. graduate student committees and served as a member on committees for numerous other graduate students.
John was an avid reader, especially of books on sports, history, and nature. He was a dedicated fan of college football and basketball, and particularly enjoyed U of M men’s basketball, for which he was a season ticket holder since 1972 and rarely missed attending a home game.
John is survived by his beloved wife and devoted caregiver, Jennifer Stoyenoff; his daughter, Leslie Witter (Wilsall, MT); his sisters, Gladys (Jim) Wiley (Vienna, VA) and Mildred (Melvin) Spicer (Charlottesville, VA); his niece and nephews, Mary Wiley, Joe (Yudy) Wiley, and Paul (Stuart) Spicer; his great-nieces and great-nephew, Hope and David Wiley and Carson Spicer; his lifelong friend, who was like a brother, Edward “Tuck” (Marionette) Jones (Warrenton, VA); and Leslie’s mother, Nancy Witter (Ann Arbor, MI).