Rick Melnicoe was a fixture in Western agriculture for
decades.
As the regional coordinator of the specialty crop pesticide
program known as IR-4, or the director of the Western Pesticide Impact
Assessment Program, or the founding director of the Western Integrated Pest
Management Center, Rick met with, worked with, ran with and influenced a lot of
people.
Here a few voices from that chorus.
“My memory of Rick was that he was very practical,” said
Carrie Koplinka-Loehr, who was a co-director and director of the Northeastern
IPM Center while Rick led the Western Center. “He was very level-headed. He
knew an lot about pesticides and pesticide safety and was able to use that
knowledge.”
Rick chaired the Regional IPM Centers joint meetings shortly
after Carrie joined the group, and she learned from his leadership.
“He was one of the people who shaped my early experiences
and expectations about the job,” she said. “I was grateful to him for providing
a role model for me.”
Rick was an avid runner, and fast. Idaho’s Ronda Hirnyck,
who worked with Rick for years in IR-4 or other programs, remembers getting
dropped by Rick on an early morning run in New Orleans and yelling for him to
stay in sight.
“We’d start out tighter on runs, but never finish together.”
Rick was frugal with taxpayer funds and didn’t spend them
easily. He was networked throughout the West and nationally, and able to
advocate for Western needs and priorities.
Former Southern IPM Center Director Jim VanKirk remembers
Rick’s ability to move past confrontations or difficult encounters and maintain
relationships and friendships with people.
“He’d take care of other people,” Jim said. “He was strong.
You could count on him to try to move past difficult things and get people to
try to move forward together. If there were 300 million people like Rick in
this country, we would be a lot better off."
Rick brought binoculars on trips and a list of birds he
hadn’t seen in the wild.
While serving as director of the Western IPM Center, he also
ran California’s Office of Pesticide Information and Coordination. Lisa Blecker
took over that portion of Rick’s responsibilities when he retired in 2012.
“He never seemed stressed or frazzled,” she said. “I have no
idea how he did that. He was always calm and collected, just getting it all
done without making a fuss about anything. He was so even tempered.”
Rick had opinions and would advocate for them, but would
also change his mind when presented with a better idea. He believed in
science-based solutions. People remember that.
Diane Clarke, former Center writer, remembers Rick’s
generosity, kindness and friendliness.
So do others.
“He was great with people,” Ronda said. “You could always count on him.”
“He was just a good person,” Jim said. “He always seemed to do the right thing.”
“I really think he was a good soul,” Carrie said. “He had higher goals and really worked to see people succeed together.”
See Rick's obituary in the Sacramento Bee
