Robert Soost

DR. ROBERT K. "BOB" SOOST Of Inverness, California died on March 8. He was 88. He was an honored Fellow of the California Native Plant Society and a dedicated volunteer researcher with the Pt. Reyes National Seashore rare plant monitoring group. Before retiring to Marin county Bob spent his 37-year career as a professor of plant science at University of California Riverside, where he helped develop important citrus varieties, including the Oroblanco and Melo Gold grapefruit and Gold Nugget mandarin. While in Riverside he was an active member of Calvary Presbyterian Church, and served on the Board of Directors of the Youth Service Center. He was also a member of the Riverside Yacht Club, and taught navigation classes for the Power Squadron. A native of Sacramento, California, he attended Sacramento Junior College, and in 1942 graduated from U. C. Berkeley. He served in the Army Signal Corps during WWII. In 1949 he earned his PhD in Plant Genetics from U.C. Davis. Dr. Soost was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Jean Soost of Inverness, daughters Anita Soost, Janet Clinton, and Elaine Soost, and four grandchildren: Stacy Clinton, Brian Clinton, Soquel Schafer and Simon Schafer. Bob will be remembered at a public gathering at 2 p.m. on April 4, 2009 at the Dance Palace community center in Point Reyes Station, California. Donations in his memory may be made to the Marin chapter of the California Native Plant Society ["CNPS Marin" c/o Daniel Kushner, 201 Ross St., San Rafael, CA 94901], the Environmental Action Committee of West Marin [www.eacmain.org] or the UCR Foundation Citrus Variety Collection Endowed Fund [www.citrusvariety.ucr.edu].