Horticulturist inducted into Hall of Honor
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James, who is an Auburn alumnus and Florence, Ala., native, is well known to Southern Nursery Association members and local nurserymen. He has had a varied and distinguished career and is currently a consulting horticulturist. He is married to Warren County native Frances Pedigo James and the couple has four children, Deborah, Cynthia, Gerlinde and Edward.
Auburn University assistant vice president Bob Martin, who visited James last week while traveling around the state, said James was an excellent choice for the award.
“It was an honor for us to nominate and then have Bryson inducted into the Hall of Honor,” Martin said. “And one thing that’s very important is, of all the individuals who have gone into it in the history of this hall, there’s only been two people in the horticulture field that have been inducted, Tom Dodd from Semmes, Ala., and Bryson. So he’s in extremely good company.”
James’ r?sum? reads like a who’s who of agribusiness and agricultural organizations. He began his career with a faculty position with N.C. State University in Raleigh. He then took a position with Hercules, Inc., a manufacturer of agricultural chemicals, where he did research and development.
In the early 1970s, he was a professor and director of the University of Florida Agricultural Research Center in Ft. Lauderdale. He has served as director of research for the Southern Nursery Association for many years and was honored with a student research competition being named in his honor. He is the editor of the Annual Proceedings SNA Research Conference and is past editor the SNA Nursery Research Journal. He has also been a longtime participant and fellow in the International Plant Propagators Society southern region meetings. He is a member of the International Society of Arboriculture, the Weed Science Society of America, and the American Horticultural Society.
Over the years, James has received numerous awards. In 1969, he received the Slater Wright Memorial Award, the highest recognition given to nurserymen in the South. He was given the Man of the Year award in 1973 by the Florida Nurserymen Women’s Auxiliary and, the following year, was also honored by the Florida Associated Nurserymen and the Florida Nursery and Growers Association for Outstanding Contributions to Horticulture. In 1993, he received the International Plant Propagators Society’s highest honor, the Sidney Meadows Award of Merit.
With all his extensive experience and contributions to his field, it is perhaps no surprise James has received his most recent honor, though he said it was indeed a surprise to him.
“Getting this award is really one of the top honors I have ever received,” he said. Still, he gives his friends and colleagues much of the credit.
“To express your feelings when you’re getting an award is just an appreciation to know that you have that many friends,” he said. “You don’t get an award on your own. You’ve got to have friends to recommend you and vote for you. That’s the greatest joy, knowing that your friends and peers and associates in the horticultural world thought enough of you to vote for you for the honor. An award by itself would be meaningless if it didn’t have that friendship associated with it.”