Ernest Young

Ernest Landrum Young
1936-2021
Ernest Landrum Young 84, of Savoy, IL, died at home on April 8, 2021. He was born in Bogalusa, LA on August 3, 1936, a son of Ernest Emile Young and Ada Mae Landrum Young. He was preceded in death by his parents and a twin sister, Ernestine. He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Rita Baker Young and their children Paul, Laura, and Keith and by brother, David Young.
Landrum grew up in Bogalusa, LA, and graduated in 1954 from Bogalusa High School. He earned a B.S. degree in Zoology from Southeastern Louisiana University and a M.S. degree in Zoology from LSU.
He began his career as a Research Assistant in the Virology Department at M.D. Anderson. After 5 years, he went to work at NASA/JSC in the Lunar Receiving Lab. During the Apollo missions, he was responsible for exposure of the first lunar soil samples to animals and plants. After 10 years at NASA, he became Director of Laboratory Animal Resources at the University of Illinois. He retired in 1989.
As he lived through the challenges of Parkinson's disease, he never let it define his life. A tree will be planted in his memory in his neighborhood commons.