Darrel Nicholas

1931-2022

Professor Dr Darrel Nicholas was born in South Dakota on November 2, 1931 and died at age 90 on July 19, 2022 in Starkville, Mississippi. His family were farmers and after a few tough years in South Dakota in the early 1930s they moved to Springfield, Oregon, and Darrel's education and future career sprung from there. Darrel was preceded in death in 2018 by his wife Carol. To read about Darrel's life in his own words we recommend you read Darrel's bio that he wrote for the IRG in 2020 by clicking here.

Darrel joined the IRG in 1979 and attended many IRG meetings between IRG11 in 1980 and IRG46 in 2015.

This Tribute was initiated through interactions with Professor Barry Goodell and we are most grateful to Barry as well as to Mike Barnes, Lehong Jin, Tor Schultz and Jeff Morrell as additional contributors. If you would like to contribute further to this Tribute please contact the IRG Secretariat, you would be most welcome.

Barry Goodell

Professor Darrel Nicholas was a giant in the field of wood protection, and those that knew and worked with him continue to have enduring, deep, respect and admiration for him. I became aware of Darrel’s prominence in the field when one of my first assignments as a new graduate student at Oregon State University in the late 1970s was to read, cover-to-cover, the two-volume set on wood preservation that Darrel had pulled together and edited. To be honest, reading some of those chapters was a bit tedious, but many were absolutely fascinating and opened my eyes to the field of wood protection. Most academic and industry members know of Darrel from his leadership in developing and testing wood preservative systems, but my experience was different and I always viewed Darrel as a basic scientist first, working at the frontiers of knowledge to gain a better understanding of what made wood degradation systems tick – and of course how those degradation systems could be controlled. It was not until many years later that I got to meet Darrel at meetings and talk with him; and his insights always surprised me.

Darrel had a very strong applied side, but what was equally impressive, and often overlooked, was his understanding of chemical mechanisms and his interest in pursuing basic science to get answers to practical questions relating to how the fungi in particular, decayed wood. He had a deep and rare capacity to think about how things worked at a fundamental level. Many of his papers from the 1980’s and 1990’s on fundamental mechanisms involved in fungal decay and are still highly relevant today.  I continue to encourage students (and peers) not to reinvent the wheel but to read some of Darrel’s papers from that era to gain appropriate context. His research in the 1980s with collaborators and students, demonstrating that something more than just Fenton chemistry was involved in brown rot fungal mechanisms, is just one example of how he fostered breakthroughs in science. Later, in the mid-1990s, it was a great honor for me when Darrel and Tor Schultz asked if I would collaborate with them in editing an American Chemical Society (ACS) Symposium on Wood Deterioration and Preservation. This brought us closer together on a regular basis and we went on to develop two other ACS symposia and three books in the early 2000s.  

Over the years I got to know Darrel better, and we had some truly enjoyable and great times at meetings globally, and in Starkville with Darrel and his wife Carol. But, beyond the fun, what continues to impress me is how Darrel’s mind worked and his ability to develop and apply new concepts to solve fundamental and applied problems. Darrel’s legacy will be not only as a leader in the wood preservation field whose ethical standards and commitment to the discipline led to the development of better wood protection systems, but also a scientific leader whose understanding of basic science led him to discoveries that are still helping to guide new fundamental concepts on how microorganisms decay wood, and how we might better control those organisms. It was a true privilege to have known and worked with Darrel. He will be remembered for his scientific contributions, his integrity, and his leadership.

Tor Schultz

Darrel had a lengthy, productive, and varied professional career in both industry and academia. He attended countless professional meetings, organizing many, served in varied leadership capacities in IRG and AWPA throughout his extensive career, and consequently knew many leaders in wood protection world-wide – industrial, academic and government. He contributed many articles to the wood deterioration and preservation profession, usually co-authored with countless other professionals. At the beginning of his career Darrel edited a two-volume book set on wood deterioration and preservation and, much later, co-edited three books; each set discussed the latest knowledge and theories.

Darrel was instrumental in developing many new theories. In graduate school at NCSU he showed that pits in living trees are not aspirated but only become aspirated during drying; this involved developing a careful and lengthy procedure to exchange the free water in wood with solvents of lower surface tension. In his academic career he was one of the first researchers to examine the possible role of oxygen radicals in the fungal degradation of wood. Using the knowledge, that oxygen radicals are involved in wood deterioration which Darrel and other researchers definitively showed, and the well-known fact that heartwood extractives have excellent free-radical and metal chelating properties, he and his coworkers determined that the low biocidal activities of extractives combined with their above non-biocidal properties explained natural heartwood fungal and termite durability. Further work then demonstrated how this knowledge can be employed to develop environmentally-benign wood preservatives by the synergistic combination of organic biocides with low-cost and safe antioxidants and metal chelators.

Darrel worked with an extensive number of professionals, and especially enjoyed working with young scientists just starting out in the profession or students – helping them to initiate new research, listing them as co-authors in various articles and providing resources for their studies.

Few individuals realized how much Darrel cared about teaching. Before every lecture Darrel would write down the objective/purpose of the day’s lecture, the material to be presented, and any required student assignment. In addition, while a Dept Head at MSU Darrel had a person in the education department come over to talk with the faculty on effective teaching methods. His door was always open to students who he would give thoughtful advice to, and he remained available to assist them as they started their professional careers elsewhere.

He cared deeply about proposed wood preservative systems which often were commercialized with more efficacy data required – especially systems for homeowners whom he felt bound by profession ethics to help protect. His extensive industrial career, and many years of hands-on assessment of multiple proposed wood preservatives in the laboratory or field, gave him the background necessary to scrutinize efficacy data. If he was unsure of a proposed preservative’s effectiveness for commercial applications, Darrel would often conduct efficacy tests using his own resources. Many in-depth studies were led by Darrel and his influence with the industry as well as academic circles will resonate for years.

Lehong Jin

Dr. Professor Darrel Nicholas was one of the most well-known and deeply respected persons in wood preservation research and industry worldwide. His contribution to wood protection research and industrial practices has been exemplified through his leadership in providing knowledge on wood preservative development as an educator, an author for books, professional publications and conference speeches, and as a leader in numerous research and industrial organizations/technical committees. His long and exemplary career has been highlighted with his research on understanding wood decay mechanisms by brown rot fungi; establishing an effective, non-destructive incipient decay testing method; developing environmental friendly yet effective wood preservatives; and advocating passionately on consumer’s interests to ensure that wood protection treatment systems, especially new developments, would provide long term protection.

Darrel will be missed deeply by our wood protection research and industry communities. His passing is especially hard for those whose lives have been touched not only in a professional career but also by his kindness and caring in a very personal way. I was one such person.

I met Darrel in the fall of 1987 when I went to Starkville, MS as a joint post-doctoral fellow of the Forest Product Laboratory in Madison and Mississippi State University under the supervision of Dr. Kent Kirk and Dr. Darrel Nicolas, respectively, right after I completed my Ph.D at University of British Columbia in Canada. I was used to big city living, and when I first landed at Golden Triangle Airport MS, it was not what I expected. I started to wonder what my life would be for the next year or two. It was Darrel every step of the way who provided caring advice: suggested a list of the apartments to stay; connected me with students in MSU’s Asian community; talked over what car to buy to getting around; showed me around the town and encouraged me to use this opportunity to explore the culture of the Deep South in the Civil War and to visit some important surrounding southern States and cities. The weekly talks Darrel and I had (covering work topics, chatting on family situation, local news and travel stories) are still vivid to me even now after more than 35 years!

It was truly rewarding two years, professionally. I worked on a number of very interesting yet challenging projects with Kent, Darrel, Tor and other scientists, published several journal papers, attended conferences and really set the great foundation for my career in chemistry and wood protection research. The joint research projects required me to travel between Madison and Starkville, I was so lucky to have two very caring supervisors: Darrel and Kent for “arranging” me to work in Madison during the summer/fall and at Starkville in the winter/spring. I did take advice from Darrel, visiting Jackson MS, Birmingham and Mobile AL, Memphis TN, New Orleans LA and other cities and places during the time I lived in Starkville. I learned a lot of historical events, local culture, and had great memories and fun! 

I left Mississippi in early 1990 to join the CSI R&D group (now Viance) in Charlotte, NC. The professional collaboration and personal friendship with Darrel continued. We talked from time to time, met at AWPA and IRG conferences and other trips, enjoyed many meals and laughter together with Darrel and Carrol. When I got married in Charlotte, Darrel knew that my parents could not join us from mainland China (that was during 90s, and travel out of China was still not easy), he and Carrol came to Charlotte to celebrate with us and to “give me away” (see photo attached). To many, Darrel was a very private and reserved person, but to people close to him, we knew that he had a big and warm heart. Darrel to me was not only my mentor and a distinguished professor/scientist, but also a very dear friend who I admired, respected and would be forever grateful to have known!

Jeff Morrell

I was going to add something about my experience as a grad student when Bob Zabel asked me to send Darrel my results before they were published and I questioned whether they would be used by Darrel. I am still embarrassed that I even thought this after getting to know him.

There are many professional aspects of Darrel’s life that can be gleaned by doing Google searches; however, these results are bland and not particularly informative. His book on Wood Deterioration and its Prevention by Preservative Treatments is now almost 50 years old, but it remains the seminal work on the subject. Darrel brought together the collective brain trust of North American wood preservers to craft a series of timeless chapters. It is a testament to the quality of this work that no book since has come close to providing the comprehensive overview of the subject. If he only published that one book set it would have been a worthy accomplishment, but it was his interest in mechanisms of preservative performance and his keen interest in moving from visual assessment to physical testing that set Darrel apart. He was keenly interested in how preservatives interacted with soils and was not afraid to reach out to other disciplines, especially soil science to better understand the chemistry of decay. His interest in moving away from visual decay assessments to take advantage of research showing that the mechanical effects of decay were detectable well before they could be seen visually were far ahead of their time. This work led to a number of AWPA Standards that are now only being adopted by others who recognize the value of his work.

The book, his work with new preservatives and the small-scale methods all describe Darrel the wood scientist, but a more important aspect is to look at him in terms of integrity. He was involved in the AWPA technical committees for over 4 decades. While many others spoke more frequently on issues, Darrel was recognized for his integrity and willingness to speak out even when it might not be popular.

H. Michael Barnes

40 YEARS WITH DARREL

I first met Darrel when he was at Michigan Tech University. Little did I know that 4 years later we would be working together at Mississippi State University. Darrel came to MSU in 1982 replacing Bill Kelso who had returned to private industry. Wood protection had always been a strong suit of the Forest Products Lab at MSU and Darrel’s inclusion made it a powerhouse. Initiated by lab director (and later Dean, College of Forest Resources) Warren Thompson, the group included Terry Amburgey and myself. We like to say that Darrel figured out what and how to test, Terry figured out how much and what organisms, and I figured out how to get it in and the effect on ancillary properties. The wood protection effort was amply supported by Research Associates Linda Sites, Michael Sanders, Susmita Parikh, Amy Rowlen, and Brian Lindsey. I remember fondly the trips to our test plots on the Mississippi Gulf Coast where we would often meet with USDA-USFS scientists Lee Gjovik, Lonnie Williams, and Doug Crawford.

He was already an internationally respected scientist with the publication of his two-volume set on wood preservation. In collaboration with other scientists, ACS monographs would follow. Later in the decade, Darrel would become the President of the American Wood-Preservers Association. He was also very active in IRG-WP. Double D (as we would often call him) became Department Head after the retirement of Bill Nearn and the move of Thompson to the Dean’s office. He returned to the bench when Thompson retired.

Darrel was a mover and shaker in the arena of wood preservative development, often with Tor Schultz. He was perhaps best known, especially in AWPA circles, for his development of new standardized test methodologies for evaluating preservative systems.

We both retired in 2022, he in April and me in June. Both Darrel and Terry passed away in 2022, a real loss to wood preservation. The one thing I can say about my career is that I was fortunate to have walked with real Giants--Darrel, Terry, Bill, and Warren.

 

This tribute was written for inclusion in the February 2023 IRG newsletter.

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