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- Bangor Daily News (ME)
March 30, 1999
Educator, scientist and agricultural leader Robert Flint Chandler Jr. died Tuesday, March 23, near Mount Dora, Fla. Chandler had been hospitalized for a week after he suffered a heart attack. He was 91.
Chandler was well-known in Maine, having attended the University of Maine and serving as the state horticulturist for the Senate early in his career. He grew up in New Gloucester, Maine, and lived for many years in Raymond, Maine. The University of Maine named a student housing building, Chandler House, after him.
He achieved worldwide acclaim for his work from 1959 to 1975 at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines. Working for the Rockefeller Foundation, Chandler joined IRRI at a time when much of Asia was facing a food crisis. Unless there was a 5 percent increase in rice production, many feared the population growth soon would outpace the region's ability to produce enough food and result in chronic, widespread famine.
At the international institute, Chandler and his team of scientists quickly came up with new rice varieties and growing technologies that helped farmers increase their yield. The institute ultimately developed more than 27 new varieties of rice and increased the production of Asian rice by 66 percent. Today, the new rice plants are grown on more than 50 million hectares, feeding billions of people.
For his work at IRRI and his leadership as part of the "Green Revolution," Chandler was the second recipient of the World Food Prize, awarded by General Foods in Washington, D.C., in 1988. The award was created to recognize "those individuals who have made a significant contribution toward improving and sustaining the world's food supply."
Before he worked for the Rockefeller Foundation, Chandler had a distinguished career in academia, serving as president of the University of New Hampshire from 1950 to 1954. He also served as dean of the College of Agriculture and director of the Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of New Hampshire from 1947 to 1950. Chandler also achieved the rank of professor at Cornell University.
Chandler is survived by Sunny, his wife of 41 years; his two sisters, Audrey and Esther; his three children, David, Ralph and Sara; and his seven grandchildren. His daughter, Sara, lives in Lewiston, Maine.
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1908 - 1999 (91 years)
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