Texas Tech University

Dick Auld - longtime PSS professor and administrator - has passed away

Department of Plant & Soil Science

October 4, 2024

Dick Auld

We are sad to share that the Lubbock community and the Department of Plant and Soil Science has lost a longtime researcher, teacher, mentor, and friend. On September 30, 2024, Dr. Dick Auld passed away peacefully.

Dr. Auld was a core member of PSS from 1991 through his retirement in 2016, where he was a professor and department chair. He worked in crop genetics, with a central focus on the development of industrial oilseed crops for use in the renewable production of biofuels and industrial biopolymers.

Even more than his academic and research accomplishments, it is his uniquely humorous and people-first approach to life and leadership that has had a lasting impact on not only the institution, but on all who had the opportunity to work and study with him.

"In 1991, Dr. Auld took a broken department that had lost three faculty members in one year and pulled them together," said Cynthia McKenney, emeritus faculty in the Department of Plant and Soil Science. "Dick had a role in very many of the positive changes in the Department of Plant and Soil Science during his 25 years at Texas Tech."

Throughout his time at Texas Tech, Auld was honored by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, Texas Association of Crop Consultants, Texas Seed Trade Association, and Big 12 Center for Economic Development. He was recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus by New Mexico State University, and in 2023, he was inducted into the TTU Department of Plant and Soil Science Faculty Hall of Fame.

"Dr. Auld was a friend and a faculty mentor to me for several years, and he was a significant reason I and many others pursued our research at Texas Tech University," said Glen Ritchie, professor of crop physiology and Plant and Soil Science department chair. "He was an outgoing leader who cared about his students and everyone in the department, and those who met him were never in doubt that he wanted us to succeed."

There are many agriculturalists today who can pin their career and life trajectories on Dr. Dick Auld's generosity, vision, and ability to see and develop the seeds of talent.

We would like to offer our condolences to Dick's family and friends. In this corner of the world, he is already missed.

 

Dr. Auld's family will host a Celebration of Life on Saturday, October 5, 2024, at 12:00 pm at Lake Ridge Chapel and Memorial Designers. Please visit www.memorialdesigners.net for service streaming, floral purchasing, and a place to share memories. They have asked that in lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Texas Tech University’s Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.

For more about Dr. Auld's life, family, and legacy, see his obituary in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.