I received an email today with the sad news that Kent Whealy passed away last week. Kent founded the Seed Savers Exchange in 1975, and ran it for 33 years. He envisioned and supervised the development of Heritage Farm and Twin Valleys at SSE. He created all of the SSE publications, including the well known Garden Seed Inventories. His awards included a MacArthur Fellowship and a N. I. Vavilov medal from the Vavilov Institute in St. Petersburg.
The email mentioned he supported many food and conservation programs in Hawaii, where he spent winters in a house he and his wife Judy owned near Hilo.
He was a private person, and I wasn’t in contact with him. Please leave a comment if you have anything else to share.
Kent Whealy was a great man who founded and directed a great organization. “Great” is an oft-overused word, but I can’t think of anything “greater.” The importance of saving a broad spectrum of food plant genetic material in a changing environment cannot be overemphasized. Godspeed to Whealy’s successors!
I just heard from Kent’s daughter Amy of his passing. We all at times in our lives have differences with others and sometimes those differences are not handled the best and I am guilty of that. I do feel Kent never had anything but the best intentions for saving and preserving our genetic food supply. I remember well how in the early days of the SSE he and I would talk about what great things could be done. The dreams, the ideas of the future for SSE and how it could become a great place for teaching and preservation. Neither Kent nor I ever thought it would get so big and so overwhelming so fast. The rapid growth and vastness probably lead to his downfall as one can only do so much. I do not think anyone had a bigger impact on changing our world’s food diversity than Kent. Some us are old enough to remember the days before the Seed Savers Exchange was created and how the idea of a black tomato or other odd vegetable never existed in mainstream America. Kent started a change that has changed the world. While he and I had some differences over the years I will always be thankful for his encouragement for me to move to Iowa and it will always be my hope he is remembered for all of the great things he did to make this world better place. I am glad he and I were able to reconcile our differences a few years ago and I sincerely hope that each and everyone remembers to thank Kent when you see an heirloom vegetable or fruit in a market somewhere.
He had a vision and carried through on it a very very long ways and shall be missed. I just don’t know what else to say, other than “Thank you ” for all his work that benefited so many.
It’s Kent’s legacy that the government of a small island in the Atlantic now considers it important to keep chestnut and sweet potato varieties, as well as suporting efforts to maintain traditional animal breeds. His work was truly seminal, and he is already missed.
Just got news of Kent Whealys death from the the Heritage farm Companion .was a bit of a chock really and very sad ,some people you expect to live forewewer .. My first Contact with Kent was in 1979 when I wrote to him following an articel in the organic farming , He inspired mee to start a seedexchange here in Sweden in 1982 and I am still a lifemember of the SSE . He wrote to me on that occasion in febrary 1981 saying hee couldnt thank me enough .best 100 dollar I ever spent . On his departure from the SSE in 2008 i wrote to him suggesting that the interstate between Missouri and Iowa should bee renamed the Kent Whealy Highway as he lived in Missouri first or they could rename the Desmoines Airport the Kent Whealy inyternationell Airport for who knew about Iowa before SSE outside the US . Hee was amused by this but I think it should/could bee for reall. In many ways he incarneted thevery best american qualities of energy,forcefullness and pioneerspirit ,truly an american hero .In his last mail hee invited mee to visit him in Michigan and now is it too late . only72 years old its quite sad .
Larsolov Rosenström member 73 lifemember 13 of the Seedawers Exchange SWEDROL .
I never met Kent but have fond memories of carrying around his early publications so that I could show them to anyone who would listen. Farsighted persons who act on their insights are rare. I just want to honor him.
Is there a formal obituary for Kent online, detailing his life and many accomplishments? I worked with him for many years beginning in the early 1980s, but lost touch with him a few years ago, and am so sorry to learn of his passing.
Hi Mark,
The Ceres Trust published a short obituary: https://cerestrust.org/kent-arthur-whealy/
There is also a short biography here: http://www.saveseeds.org/biography/whealy/index.html
I don’t know of anything else that might qualify as an obituary. I would certainly be happy to publish anything here that anyone cares to write.
Kent Whealey was a trailblazer in the heirloom seed movement, even coining the phrase, and will surely be missed. I was able to work with him and spend time with him and Judy when they came to Molokai, one of the epicenters of GMO corn seed production by Monsanto and Dow Mycogen. He and Judy supported many important initiatives in Hawaii including the Hawaii Public Seed Initiative, maintaining our Native Hawaiian Taro collection, the Hawaiian culture movement, protection of communities from pesticide exposure, statewide distribution of breadfruit plants that sparked a resurgence of breadfruit growing in Hawaii and elsewhere, among other anonymous projects. It wasn’t about recognition. He lamented the loss of his notes of all the seeds he collected throughout the world in which SSE refused to allow him access to. This is a tragedy and indicative of a vindictive organization. What goes around comes around. Kent did a lot of good and wasn’t looking at himself and we are better for it. I can just imagine how many seed varieties would have been lost hadn’t he rescued them along with their valuable stories that tie us to those seeds. I remember a story he shared when he went to Russia. He knew that many of these plant scientists has no money so he took $10,000 in $100 bills and gave it those who shared seeds with him. What a great man, and I cannot say enough about this individual driven to do good in this world. Aloha Kent, we will miss you.
For all who are interested, cerestrust.org is posting an archive of essays, speeches and articles by and about Kent.
Sorry to hear of Kent’s passing. He was a good neighbor to us. We felt bad when his position at Seed Savers was suspended. He was great at writing grants. When you receive grants such a the Lillian Goldman Grant you become entwined & owned by the grant givers which I have seen with other non profit organization & in this case is what happened to Kent. There is an old saying if you are going to play with sharks (Lillian Goldman) you are going to get bite. In this case Kent was bite. God Bless Kent & his family at this time of their loss. He was a kind & caring person.
Kent Whealy has been on my mind as I plan which varieties of tomato plants to offer for sale at our local farmers’ market this year. He and Judy were fixtures at our market after settling in northern Michigan, and it was always a joy to see them both and a huge honor to send them home with heirloom tomatoes that we grew, many no doubt available to me because of Kent’s work. I wish I’d gotten to know him better; I was always a bit star-struck when they showed up. Here’s to a future rich in Aunt Ruby’s German green tomatoes, among others. Thank you, Kent.
I didn’t know Kent had passed. I think I only met him once, with Gary Nabhan, another pioneer in the Heirloom Seeds Movement. Grow on folks and keep his memory alive. Save those seeds and pass them on.