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John Snyder, 1935–2011 J ohn Snyder, former president and chief executive officer of C & O Nursery, Wenatchee, Washington, died November 30 at the age of 96. John, son of the nursery's founder, Bert Snyder, was born in Ephrata, Washington, but lived in Wenatchee most of his life. After graduating from Wenatchee High School in 1933, he attended Wash- ington State University and then enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and became a flight school instructor. After leaving the military, he worked as general manager of operations for Jackson and Perkins in Pleasanton, California. In 1955, he moved back to Wenatchee to become a partner in the nursery with his brothers Gene and Bob. He retired in 1989. He served as president of the Washington State Nursery and Landscape Association and received its Pioneer Award in 2006. He was a member of the American Nursery and Landscape Association and served as its governor for Washington State. He was preceded in death by his wife Mary Ann, brother Gene, and sister Florence Dolwick. He is sur- vived by his brothers Bob and Albert, sister Margaret, and six children: Jack, Dick, and Gary Snyder, Pat Norton, Judy Johnson, and Sandi Clark. Grape Grower of the Year D iversified farmer Dennis Pleasant of Prosser, Wash- ington, received the Lloyd Porter 2011 Grower of the Year Award from the Grape Society. Pleasant, a wine and juice grape producer and the nation's largest currant grower, has served as the association's president for the past three years. He is a past Grape Society board member and board member of the Prosser-based Edgar Whitehead Foundation. s Farm Bureau award T he Michigan Farm Bureau gave its 2011 Distin- guished Service to Agriculture Award to Wallace Heuser, a Lawrence, Michigan, nurseryman. He was lauded as a Michigan-born and -bred world authority on fruit varieties, rootstocks, and orchard management systems, who used his exceptional skills to make "unparalleled" contributions to the fruit industry. He is recognized worldwide as an authority on deciduous fruit varieties, rootstocks, and orchard management systems, and as an expert horticulturalist, nurseryman, innovator, and marketing specialist. Heuser's foresight into the movement toward smaller fruit trees led to the creation of the Interna- tional Dwarf Fruit Tree Association, now known as the International Fruit Tree Association, of which he was founding president. The first meeting took place in his tree storage shed. During his career, Heuser tested and introduced about 100 new apple and sweet cherry varieties or strains and rootstocks, working as president of Summit Sales, Inc., and International Plant Management, Inc. International Plant Management's stated mission is to test, protect, introduce, and market new deciduous fruit tree selections. Heuser was raised on his parents' Hilltop Orchards and Nurseries at Hartford, Michigan, returning to the family farm after graduation from MSU to put into practice what he had learned and influence others in the fruit industry. Over the years, he has won numerous awards and recognition for his work. www.goodfruit.com GOOD FRUIT GROWER JANUARY 1, 2012 9