Kelman, Arthur

Arthur Kelman was born on December 11, 1918 in Providence, Rhode Island. Kelman received his B.S. (1941) from the University of Rhode Island in botany and a Ph.D. (1949) from North Carolina State University in plant pathology. Kelman was offered and accepted a position as assistant professor of plant pathology at North Carolina State University (1949). At North Carolina State, Kelman studied Ralstonia solanacearum, which contributes to Granville wilt of tobacco. His work in developing a way of storing and recognizing pathogenic colonies in a culture helped accelerate the development of disease-resistant varieties of tobacco, tomato, potato and other important crops. In the early 1960s, Kelman developed a program of graduate education and research in forest pathology at North Carolina State University. Kelman assumed the chair of the Department of Plant Pathology (1965) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and continued serving as professor and chair for ten years. Despite a very demanding schedule, Kelman taught the basic plant pathology course for many years. Kelman was named L.R. Jones Distinguished Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1975), and became Wisconsin Alumni Research Professor (1984). Kelman returned to North Carolina State University (1989) to assume the position of University Distinguished Scholar in the Department of Plant Pathology. In addition to R. solanacearum, Kelman has studied phytobacteriology, parasites, bacterial diseases of plants and soft-rotting Erwinias. Throughout his career, Kelman received numerous awards for his scholarship and teaching. Kelman passed away June 29, 2009.

Kelman was active in many professional organizations. He was elected to membership of the National Academy of Sciences (1973) and served the American Phytopathological Society on numerous committees and as councilor-at-large, vice president, and president. In addition, he played an important role in the creation of the International Society for Plant Pathology and served as its vice president (1968-1973) and president (1973-1978).