E. T. York liked to say tall trees catch a lot of wind. Those who knew him said he was one of the tallest.
He died at the age of 88 Friday after a long illness.
He was born about six miles south of Mentone, Ala., and grew up during the Great Depression. He got his bachelor’s in agriculture and master’s from Alabama Polytechnic Institute, now known as Auburn University, and received a doctorate from Cornell University.
He created UF’s Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences and went on to be UF executive vice president, UF interim president and the chancellor of the State University System.
Marshall Criser, former UF president, said York probably would have become president of UF had he not taken the job as chancellor. He said York’s talents improved all of Florida’s public universities.
“He was a leader,” Criser said. “And he showed wisdom and integrity in everything that he did.”
Donald Poucher, a family friend who worked with York for more than 40 years, said York pursued a goal with everything he had.
“He would move heaven and earth to get it done,” he said.
He said York’s reputation for accuracy intimidated him at first met, but he quickly learned that York expected a lot out of people for a reason.
“If he touched your life, you were better for it,” Poucher said.
He remembers the time York swayed Congress.
A Senate subcommittee on migratory labor investigated after an activist wrote a book condemning machine-picked tomatoes that IFAS created, saying they were inedible and put seasonal workers out of a job.
With less than a week to prepare, York and Poucher wrote and printed 100 copies of an inch-thick rebuttal. They packed up the books in every suitcase they could find and flew to Washington D.C., meeting with an employee who brought the tomatoes everyone was arguing about.
When York testified in front of Congress, he held one of his “inedible” tomatoes in one hand and a tomato he bought from a D.C. grocery store in his other hand. His tomato was red and juicy. The other tomato was smaller and harder.
To prove his point, he served his tomatoes to Congress, with a little salt.
Poucher said one thing York taught him was when you know you’re right, don’t give up.
“He believed that the condemnation of that program was wrong, that the program was right and he proceeded to demonstrate that,” he said.
York is survived by his wife of 64 years, Vermelle “Vam” Cardwell York. They met while he was a graduate student at Auburn University.
They adopted two children, Travis and Lisa, and have a nephew, Guy York, of Gainesville, whom York treated like a son.
“He seemed to dote on those children,” Poucher said. “He loved them a lot, a lot.”
York remained loyal to his alma mater, but those who knew him said he was also a Gator. When he was 83 and retired, he went to his UF office almost daily.
Poucher said York taught him to live a life of value.
“I learned a lot from him,” Poucher said, “a lot that I’ll remember always.”
