Robert Goulding Jr., Flea-Collar Inventor

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Robert Goulding Jr., an entomologist whose research into time-release pesticides led to the introduction of the flea collar in 1964, died of a heart attack. He was 70.

A private family memorial service was held Monday for Mr. Goulding, who died Friday (March 15) at Good Samaritan Hospital in Corvallis.

Although his area of research was broad, he is best known outside professional circles as the inventor of the flea collar.

Mr. Goulding, who retired in 1981, joined the Oregon State University faculty in 1955. He worked on programs ``affecting man and animals,'' including ways of ridding cattle of pests, longtime colleague John Lattin said.

Knowing that cattle tend to scratch against objects, Mr. Goulding put pesticides on a bag that the animals could rub against, giving themselves a dose of insect killer.

While Mr. Goulding's research into time-release pesticides on resin had general application as the flea collar, it also led to other products that release chemicals at a fixed rate, Lattin said.

In addition to finding ways to use pesticides, Mr. Goulding also developed safe ways to dispose of them, including specialized containers.

Mr. Goulding was born in Daytona Beach, Fla., and served in the Army Air Corps during World War II. He attended the University of Florida and Ohio State University, where he received his doctorate in 1955.

Before joining the faculty at Oregon State, Mr. Goulding worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Florida State Board of Health and three county mosquito-control districts in Florida.

Mr. Goulding is survived by his wife, May; three children, Bonnie Lee Goulding-Thompson of Colorado Springs, Colo., Martha Ellen Dodge, of Bothell, Wash., and David Ross Goulding of Corvallis; and eight grandchildren.