Stanley P. Gessel Was An Expert On Forests And The Science Of Soil

Growing up on a Utah farm during the Great Depression helped to shape the character and career of forest expert Stanley Gessel.

Mr. Gessel saw the drought-beset land struggle to produce barely enough to feed one family, let alone many. So he made up his mind to work with nature to help it do its best for humans and others.

By the time he died of heart failure Saturday at 78, Mr. Gessel had helped to increase the Northwest's forest-growth rate by 20 percent.

He had written widely on forest fertilization, and on soil worldwide. And he had served as a University of Washington College of Forest Resources professor since 1948.

"Stan was a pioneer, the father of the forest-management field," University of Washington forestry dean Dale Cole said. "He took agricultural practices and applied them to forestry."

Mr. Gessel - caring, brilliant but endearingly absent-minded - had brought to the Pacific Northwest "a whole awareness of tree nutrition" that engendered a new forest management and production system.

In later years that meant a clash with environmentalists concerned about individual species.

Mr. Gessel, who had spent his life learning how nature and humans worked together for the benefit of both, had little patience for those who recently had come on the scene and claimed to have all the answers.

Mr. Gessel earned his undergraduate degree in forestry and range management in 1939 at Utah State Agricultural College. He attained the rank of captain in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, and earned his Ph.D. in soil science from the University of California at Berkeley.

His wife, Beverly Gessel of Seattle, called him her "best friend." He welcomed her at his meetings.

They traveled widely for his job, and he had friends throughout the world, some of whom have come for his funeral at 1 p.m. tomorrow at University Temple United Methodist Church, 1415 N.E. 43rd St.

His wife said he had a wonderful garden at home, but never did heed her suggestion of entering his dahlias in the Puyallup Fair.

"Maybe I'll take some this year while they're still under his influence."

Other survivors include his children, Susan Gessel of Pateros, Paula Siebert of Everett, Patti Vicari of Edmonds, Pamela Adams of Woodinville and Michael Graylen of Austin, Texas; brothers Ted Gessel, Palm Desert, Calif., and Clyde Gessel, Salt Lake City; and four grandchildren.

Remembrances may be sent to the Gessel Scholarship Fund, College of Forest Resources, Box 352100, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195..