AUGUST 30, 1930 – OCTOBER 21, 2022
John Edwin Hendrix II (Jack to family), of Fort Collins, Colorado, died peacefully on October 21, 2022, at age 92. Born on August 30, 1930, in Van Nuys, California to John E. Hendrix I and Leona Paul Hendrix. John grew up in the San Fernando Valley of Southern California in a loving family as the fourth of five children. John graduated from Canoga Park H.S. in 1948 and then attended Pierce Junior College where he also played football. He played both offensive and defensive end.
After receiving his A.S degree from Pierce, he entered the US Army in 1951. Inducted as a Private he was quickly promoted to Sargent and then was sent to officer candidate school and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant. He was then sent to Korea seeing combat in the artillery during the Korean War and was promoted again to First Lieutenant. He received several decorations, including the Air Medal for directing artillery fire from over enemy held territory.
Upon returning to civilian life, he married Joan Haas (deceased) of Northridge, California on April 10, 1954, and enrolled at Fresno State U. In 1955 daughter Janet was born. He worked as a foreman in a fruit orchard to support his family while also attending college, yet he still was able to graduate with both B.S. and B.A. degrees. He then went on to obtain his M.S. and Ph.D. in Plant Physiology from The Ohio State University. In 1961, he became a father a second time with the birth of son Jim.
In 1967 he came to Fort Collins with his family to take a position on the faculty of Colorado State U. where he taught plant physiology, several other plant-oriented courses and conducted independent research. He was an excellent teacher and made important research contributions to the understanding of how plants process energy and transport sugars. In 1975, he was a member of a NASA-funded research team that designed an experiment to test the impact of weightlessness on plants as part of the Apollo – Soyuz space mission. John was a familiar site to many on the CSU campus as he rode his bike to work nearly every day for 35 years. He retired from CSU in 2002 as Professor Emeritus.
He was a member of the American Society of Plant Physiologist and, for ten years, served as a member of the editorial board of the society's Journal, Plant Physiology. He was also a member of the Colorado-Wyoming Academy of Science, the American Institute of Biological Scientist, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Association of University Professors and Sigma XI (The Scientific Research Honor Society).
John had many interests outside of work. His passion for plants extended to his own garden. He loved to attend orchestra and band concerts especially when daughter Janet was performing. He frequently attended both the Fort Collins and Cheyenne Symphonies to enjoy performances by son-in-law Birch Unfug. He enjoyed watching his son Jim and grandchildren in sports attending numerous football, basketball, baseball, and soccer games over the years. He was also a fan of the Denver Broncos, CSU football and both men’s and women’s CSU basketball. He loved traveling especially by car to explore the US and Canada. He loved exploring the mountains of Colorado, the National Parks and traveling to visit family on both the west and east coasts. He was intensely curious about science and enjoyed learning new things even at the end of his life. He always enjoyed discussing current events and the affairs of the day.
He was preceded in death by his beloved wife of 63 years, Joan, a sister, Margaret Zumwalt, brothers, Dr. Thomas Hendrix and Col., George D. Hendrix and survived by sister Mary Thorpe of Little Rock, AR, daughter, Janet Unfug of Fort Collins, her husband, D. Birch Unfug and their child, Kate, a son, Dr. James Hendrix of Hillsborough, NJ, his partner Shona Sternberg and his children, Sam, Matt, and Claire.
In lieu of flowers, a memorial gift may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association http://act.alz.org/goto/John_Joan_Hendrix A celebration of life will be held in 2023 at a date and location to be determined. Additional information can be found at www.resthavencolorado.com.
