NAAA eNewsletter - July 3, 2014NAAA Wishes You a Happy Independence Day!

Lawrence O. “Larry” Roth, the R in the original WRK Inc. and one of the creators of the equipment and procedures that formed the basis for NAAA’s Operation S.A.F.E. program, passed away June 28.

For all of his professional accomplishments, Roth remained a “Wisconsin farm boy” at heart. He attended the University of Wisconsin and earned degrees in agricultural and mechanical engineering. In 1951, he joined the agricultural engineering faculty at Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Oklahoma State University) in a teaching and research position. He completed his Ph.D. in agricultural engineering at OSU in 1965 and remained on the faculty for 35 years, until he retired in 1986. Roth taught classes at all levels, co-authored an agricultural engineering textbook, and supervised undergraduate and graduate students. He had sabbaticals at the John Deere Des Moines Works and at the Technion University in Haifa, Israel.

His main research involved pesticide application technology with a special focus on aerial application. Through a NASA grant, Roth and his colleagues developed the equipment and procedures that led to NAAA’s Operation S.A.F.E. program and participated in the inaugural professional application analysis clinic in 1981.

The primary purpose of the grant was to develop a technique to sample and measure spray deposition. The NASA proposal was a joint effort by Richard Whitney and Larry Roth. Although he was not an official member of the NASA project, Dennis Kuhlman became an essential third member of the team. In 1984, the three men officially joined forces by forming the company WRK Inc.

In addition to traveling throughout the United States conducting Operation S.A.F.E. fly-ins, Roth served as a UN/FAO consultant conducting pesticide application equipment workshops in some 24 developing countries in Central and South America, Africa, Southeast Asia and the South Pacific. He received numerous awards for his work, including the USDA Superior Service Award, NAAA’s Delta Air Puffer Award and the inaugural Evans-Christopher Operation S.A.F.E. Award in 2010 from NAAREF’s Operation S.A.F.E. Committee.

NAAA extends its condolences to the family of Larry Roth. His contributions to the aerial application industry are immeasurable.