John Mason Duniway

With great sadness, we said goodbye to Dr. John Mason Duniway--husband, father, grandad, great grandad, little brother, uncle, colleague, cousin, and classmate--the afternoon of October 7th, 2024 in Davis, CA. 

Our dad was born and raised in San Francisco, California, and if there’s one way to describe him, it’s that he was a California boy. He loved this state: its mountains, rivers, valleys, oceans, plants, and agriculture. Every chance he had to hike in the Sierras, see the coast, visit a new area, he took. He knew the geography of this state like the back of his hand. Ask him for a suggestion for a nice day hike, and he’d give you a whole list with directions (but as if you too knew where in the world he was talking about).

He also loved mechanics - whether it was a car, the systems of a plant, a backyard irrigation system, model trains - he understood how it worked, and he could build it, repair it, make it better. He loved building things, and this house is full of his work but you’d never know it unless someone told you, because his work is so perfect and enduring that it feels like a surprise to learn that the thing you’re looking at was made by his hand. He loved an elegant solution.

But of course the thing he loved most was our mom and his family and friends. Mom and Dad met their freshman year at Carleton, and remained best friends and sweethearts for the next 63 years. They traveled the world together, hiked the Sierras (including 100 miles of the John Muir Trail) and, for their 50th wedding anniversary, trekked the Swiss Alps. They raised a family, built a life and home, enjoyed the opera, orchestra, and sitting on the patio sipping coffee. He was active and engaged. He arranged visits with family and friends near and far, especially to see his grandkids, composed a witty and loving christmas letter we all looked forward to reading, regularly called distant relatives and old friends, and loved attending Carleton Class of ‘64 Reunions, formal or informal.

John Mason Duniway was born November 6, 1942 in San Francisco, California. He was raised in the Richmond district of SF and then Atherton, graduating from Woodside High School. He received a bachelors in Biology from Carleton College in 1964 and PhD in Plant Pathology from the University of Wisconsin in 1969. From 1969 to 1970, he was at the Australian National University, Canberra, on a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellowship to work on the water relations of Fusarium wilt of tomato. He joined the faculty of the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of California, Davis, in 1970, where he remained active for the next 35 years, including serving as Department Chair from 1989 to 1994.

Dad’s research was devoted to understanding plant and soil water relations in the ecology of plant pathogens. The American Phytopathology Society states, “His work on Phytophthora cryptogea stands as one of the most qualitative and comprehensive demonstrations of the effects of soil moisture on the behavior of microorganisms in soil.” His research on P. cryptogea and other pathogens has had important practical applications in California and around the globe, including changing how vast fields of tomatoes are irrigated and how strawberries are grown without the ozone-depleting use of methyl bromide. He was an active and engaged professor, and counted undergraduates he has inspired and the successes of his former graduate students and laboratory staff among some of his most prized accomplishments. He remained close friends with his former colleagues, students and staff throughout his life.

Dad leaves behind his wife Cathie, son Michael (and partner Arita Graham), daughter Sarah (and husband David Brauer), grandchildren Ian Brauer (and wife Cleo Lacey), Abigail Brauer, Conor Duniway, Genevieve Duniway, and great-grandson August Brauer. Memorial donations may be directed to the UC Davis Plant Pathology Student Support Fund (https://give.ucdavis.edu/APPA/PLPSTDG).