Ron G. Buttery

Ron Buttery was born on December 4th, 1930 in Terowie, South Australia the youngest of four sons. He came from humble beginnings, his first home being a wattle and daub house (a mud home). His family later moved to Torrensville, just outside of Adelaide.

While Ron was on track to go to vocational school and become a mechanic, his high school chemistry teacher realized his potential in chemistry and was instrumental in putting Ron on an academic track.

Ron received his B.S. and Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at University of Adelaide and was selected to do research in the United States. He accepted a post doctorate at Yale. During this time, he met his future wife, Marie Amato, on a blind date. After his postdoc at Yale was completed, he returned to the University of Adelaide to do more post-doctorate research. He and Marie wrote letters to each other almost daily while they were apart.

Ron and Marie got married in Ottawa, Canada. Ron accepted a research position at the University of Western Ontario and Laval University, Canada. They then had their first son, Chris. Ron received an offer from the USDA in Albany, California, and they moved to the Bay Area in 1958. Ron and Marie had two more children, Mark and Margaret.

From 1958 to 2001, Ron was a research chemist at the USDA, and he became recognized internationally as one of the world’s leading experts in flavor chemistry and his research significantly advanced this field of science and supported the development of agriculture and food science. He had more than 190 publications (in agricultural and food chemistry journals) and 7 patents. He received the 1981 Jeffrey Lecturer Award for Food Chemistry from the University of New South Wales, Australia. In 1997, Ron received the American Chemical Society, Agricultural and Food Chemistry Division Award for Advancement of Application of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. In 2008, he received the Kenneth A. Spencer Award for outstanding achievement in food and agricultural chemistry.

Throughout his distinguished career, he made major contributions to the knowledge of the flavor compounds of a number of food crops including tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, beans, bell peppers, corn, rice, artichokes, beets, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and hops. This work is widely recognized by the scientific community and by agriculture and food industries. Despite his high stature in the field he was very modest about his accomplishments, preferring others to be in the spotlight. He had a passion for research and was happiest working in the lab solving the latest problems and challenges. Even after his retirement, Ron still went into the USDA lab four days per week until the shutdown of March 2020.

In addition to spending time in the lab, Ron loved the outdoors. In his early years, he took to riding his motorcycle in the Australian countryside. He enjoyed swimming, skin diving and spearfishing. He became a passionate runner in the 1970s. He also frequently took his children to the Marin Headlands and Angel Island to hike. He enjoyed bike riding as well. In his later years, he fell in love with the Colorado Mountains

and completed some of his most ambitious hikes in his late 70s and early 80s with Rena.

Ron was an extremely reliable and devoted husband, friend, father, and grandfather. Everyone could always count on him. Ron adored his grandchildren, and his youngest granddaughter could always get him to smile even when he was not feeling well.

Ron passed away peacefully on October 6th, 2022 with his family in Colorado where he lived the last year of his life. He is survived by his daughter, Margaret, son-in-law, John and three grandchildren Joe, Marie and Genevieve, his two sons Mark and Chris and son-in-law, Ray. A very special thanks to Kalpana for caring for Ron the last year of his life.