In remembrance of J.F. Seitzer

JFS was born on February 1, 1933, in Ravensburg. He laid the foundation for his successful career in 1949 when he began his agricultural apprenticeship in the Lake Constance district. After training as a seed breeding assistant in Hohenheim, he attended the School of Agricultural Engineering in Nürtingen/Neckar and then began to study agriculture at the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel, graduating in that at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. He gained his doctorate there with a dissertation on the success of selection in different breeding methods. After gaining initial professional experience at two cereals breeding companies, J.F. Seitzer went to work as a wheat agronomist at the Plant Breeding Station in Njoro, Kenya, on behalf of the German Development Aid organization.

Josef Franz Seitzer joined KWS in 1974 and worked at the wheat breeding station of KWS’ subsidiary Lochow-Petkus GmbH in Wetze. Just a year later, the Canadian government engaged him as part of a state-run soybean breeding program in Ottawa, before KWS was able to woo him back in 1978, initially as deputy director under Wilhelm Oltmann and from 1980 as director of our Institute for Plant Breeding.

He was in charge of and put his stamp on our Institute for Plant Breeding for more than two decades in that post. Under his scientific responsibility, KWS founded PLANTA Angewandte Pflanzengenetik und Biotechnologie GmbH in 1984 and was thus quick to respond to the revolutionary findings from molecular biology research at the time. JFS always set store by a blend of new technologies and tried-and-tested breeding methods in its work. From then on, PLANTA supported practical breeding with technical laboratory services, and all application-oriented biotechnology research was pooled there. That included not only cell biology and molecular marker technology, but also the first cross-species transfer of genes – the beginning of “green genetic engineering” at KWS. With his unswerving commitment to introducing and using state-of-the-art technologies and breeding methods, JFS succeeded in enhancing our innovativeness and international competitiveness, thereby laying the foundation for KWS’ growth in the 21st century – he was thus an important trailblazer!

JFS built a close-knit network in the global breeding research community and was highly respected on account of his integrity. In 1998, in the final year of his professional career, he was one of the initiators of the national genome research program “Genome Analysis in the Biological System of the Plant” (GABI) – a task of immense social importance.

His tomato breeding skills will also never be forgotten. For many years, he delighted KWS employees with his plants and spurred them on to turn in top-class achievements in their own gardens.

Down to earth, Swabian, direct and humorous, with his always modest and likable nature – that is how we will remember J.F. Seitzer with great gratitude. Our deepest sympathies go to his wife, children and grandchildren. |