Lyle Craker

1941 - 2022

Lyle Craker

Amherst, MA — Dr. Lyle Craker, devoted husband and father; world renowned scientist, writer, professor, and educator; master repairman of all things; and longtime resident of Amherst, Massachusetts, passed away May 15, 2022 after a long battle with Alzheimer's.

Lyle is survived by his wife Betty (nee Eckert); daughters Karen Morris (Pancho), Nancy Craker-Yahman (Yahman), Sarah Craker (Justin) and Chantha Bin (Ray); and grandchildren, George (Leah) and Aaron Morris and Zachary and Adam Yahman. He was preceded in death by his parents, Roger and Marcella, his brother Loren and sisters, Beatrice Anne, Bonnie Jean and Rita May.

Lyle was born in the small, rural Wisconsin town of Reedsburg where he grew up on a small farm and walked miles to get to school. His intelligence was recognized early on as he was allowed to enter Kindergarten at the age of four. He graduated from Wonewoc High School, fourth in his class, and went on to be the first in his family to attend college at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he majored in Agronomy and earned his B.S. in 1964 and most importantly, met the love of his life Betty Eckert. Three years later, notably skipping a master's degree, he earned his PH.D in Plant Physiology at the University of Minnesota.

After completing his doctorate, Lyle moved to Fort Detrick where he served our country as an army officer during the Vietnam War. Originally trained as a flame thrower, he was eventually transferred to the Army's Chemical Department, where he studied the after effects of Agent Orange on vegetation.

Upon completion of his service, Lyle was hired by the state of Massachusetts to work as a scientist at the Waltham Field Experiment Station. While there, he studied the effects of acid rain on plants and began a long study of red light exposure to apples (his studies discovered that this would prevent apples from falling off trees, therefore helping Massachusetts apple growers.)

In 1976, he took a sabbatical to Cambridge, England. It was there he introduced his family to a love of travel as they traveled extensively around Europe in a camping van. When his family returned to the U.S., he was transferred to the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he became a Professor of Plant and Soil Sciences, taught many classes, including the writing requirement for majors and his very popular Herbs, Spices and Medicinal Plants class. He mentored several graduate students from the United States and abroad and continued his experiments on plants and wrote numerous articles, edited journals and gave speeches around the world.

While at UMASS, Lyle embarked on a journey that would come to define him professionally, that is his work on herbs, spices and medicinal plants, including medicinal marijuana. He first got the idea to embark on the chemical study of the above mentioned plants while talking with his former graduate student, Dr. James Simon, then a professor himself. They had been studying air pollution effects on plants and a discussion about the effects of car pollution on the growth of flowers alongside highways came up. This topic lead to a more general discussion of herbs as they said to each other, "Herbs, who's working on herbs? Nobody!"

Lyle's study of herbs, spices and medicinal plants have laid the foundation for more studies. Indeed, articles bearing his name span a diversity of species, chemicals and experimental treatments. He was instrumental in starting a new conference: the American Council of Medicinally Active Plants and was the founder and editor of the Journal of Herbs, Spices and Medicinal Plants.

While attending and presenting at conferences, he was approached by parents with children suffering from wasting diseases such as leukemia, asking him to advocate on their behalf for the legalization of medical marijuana. The humanitarian and scientific sides of Lyle came together as he heard their stories of how they had to go to the streets to purchase marijuana illegally to help their children ease the effects of chemotherapy and to get food down. He believed them. He wanted to prove what they said was true for the world, scientifically.

Since the only marijuana available to scientists was too weak for any medical study, Lyle set out to grow a more potent form at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst under his supervision and made several applications to the Drug Enforcement Agency beginning in 2001 for permission, of which some were ignored for years, others were flat out denied, and some "lost" in the shuffle between various agencies. The world missed out on an opportunity by a brilliant, caring, fair-minded human being.

Unfortunately, Lyle was not able to continue pursuing this passion because of his contracting Alzheimer's. He lived out the last years of his life near his daughters, in Hadley, Massachusetts, Atlanta, Georgia and finally, Charleston, West Virginia.

Also, Lyle loved animals, music-especially Johnny Cash, traveling, children, reading, and teaching. He believed in a strong work ethic and was always available to help if and whenever needed. He passed all this along to his daughters.

A memorial service is planned for August 27, 1:00 PM at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Amherst, Massachusetts, his family's church home for several years.

Arrangements are in care of Snodgrass Funeral Home, South Charleston, WV.