Roger L. Rupp

1943 - 2019

(News story) PETTISVILLE, Ohio - Roger L. Rupp, whose quest for the new and improved brought diversity - including colorful varieties of pumpkin and squash - to the farm seed business his father founded, died Wednesday in hospice care at Fairlawn Haven, Archbold, Ohio. He was 75.

He was in declining health for several weeks, his family said.

Three years ago, Mr. Rupp suffered traumatic brain injury when he fell and hit his head while cleaning gutters at his home in Fulton County's German Township, his wife, Peggy Rupp, said. The couple found support in their weekly visits to the Traumatic Brain Injury Resource Center in Lucas County's Sylvania Township.

"He really enjoyed meeting the people," his wife said, adding that they all had something in common - the will to overcome.

Mr. Rupp was an owner and former president of Rupp Seed Co.

"Everything he was about was looking for the latest genetics to bring the highest yields or disease resistance," said his son Phil, now Rupp Seed president.

Or the brightest color of pumpkin with the best handle.

Mr. Rupp, in later years with the company, focused on research and breeding of varieties of pumpkins and winter squash. In 2004, as white pumpkins were gaining popularity, Mr. Rupp told The Blade he was working to develop pumpkins in shades other than orange.

"You can segregate seeds into different sorts of genetic arrangements and in the process, you usually throw the odd stuff away. We don't," Mr. Rupp said in 2004.

His son said: "When there was something new in the business, it was all-consuming for him.

"The biggest thing that impressed me was his determination," his son said. "It didn't matter what was going on. He was determined to be a success and treat people fairly and accept everyone and be generous with his time and talents and resources. He shared openly with our employees and community."

He was born Dec. 15, 1943, to Pearl and Sylvan Rupp, the youngest of their seven children. He grew up in Fulton County's Clinton Township on the family farm, which had a variety of crops plus cattle and hogs. His father started a seed company in 1946 by selling hybrid corn and other grain and soybean seed.

A 1961 graduate of Pettisville High School, he worked closely with his father, becoming a partner in 1972. He studied and read and developed his own corn hybrids. By 1992, he'd developed more than a dozen varieties of hybrid corn, plus varieties of soybeans and wheat.

"Genetics showed up in everything he did," his wife said.

A 1980s economic downturn brought to mind his father's advice: Start selling vegetable seeds to weather recessions.

"'When times are tough, gardens get bigger,'" his father used to say, Mr. Rupp told The Blade in 1992, when vegetable seeds represented a third of Rupp Seed's business. Now those seeds are sold to commercial growers nationally and internationally, his wife said.

His aim was to come up with new varieties "that were going to make his customers profitable and to help his customers have the best seeds possible," said his wife, who had been company secretary-treasurer.

Mr. Rupp was a 2003 inductee to the Fulton County Agriculture Hall of Fame.

For decades, he sang bass in The Messengers, a gospel quartet which began when he and its three other members were in the boys' vocal quartet at Pettisville High. In the group's prime, the Messengers performed up to 100 programs a year in a 200-mile radius around Fulton County. The group also recorded seven albums.

He was a member of Tedrow Mennonite Church, where he'd had leadership roles.

Surviving are his wife, the former Peggy Ann Nafziger and his high school sweetheart, whom he married July 13, 1963; sons Philip and Barry Rupp; daughters Sheri Fry and Natalie King, also of Pettisville; brother, Lowell "Sie" Rupp; sisters Bernice Hartzell, Marcile Nofziger, and Margaret Smeltzer, and nine grandchildren.

Visitation will be from noon to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Tedrow Mennonite Church in Dover Township. A memorial celebration of life service will begin at 3 p.m. Thursday at West Clinton Mennonite Church in Clinton Township, with visitation from 1-2 p.m. Thursday. Arrangements are by Short Funeral Home, Archbold.

The family suggests tributes to the Tedrow Mennonite Church, Youth For Christ of Defiance, or the Traumatic Brain Injury Resource Center.

This is a news story by Mark Zaborney. Contact him at mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.