The agricultural industry lost a great ally with the passing of Dr. Francis Zee, who was the Research Leader and horticulturist for the USDA Agricultural Research Service’s Daniel K. Inouye Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center.
Dr. Zee is credited for being a part of research papers such as the Phytochemicals in Fruits in Hawaiian Wild Cranberry Relatives; The Genome Size Variation Among Sex Types in Dioecious and Trioecious Caricacaiea Species in Papayas; Propagation and Cultivation of Ohelo; and Small-scale Tea Growing and Processing in Hawaii to name just a few of research paper that Dr. Zee has co- authored.
Dr. Tracie Matsu-moto Brower, who worked with Dr. Zee at the USDA Research Center, said, “Francis Zee is probably best known for his work on tea and ohelo. He also introduced low chill blueberries to Hawaii. Also for his work on growing edible ginger in bags.”
As Dr. Matsumoto Brower stated, Dr. Zee had a huge hand in the tea industry. Dr. Zee was very modest and did hot want recognition but as Eva Lee of the Hawaii Tea Society and a tea grower said, “If it wasn’t for Francis, we wouldn’t have a tea industry in Hawaii today.” She feels that the formation of the Hawaii Tea Society was due to encouragement by Dr. Zee. It brought interested growers together with the various agencies in the government sector to share their knowledge and research.
Both Eva and I agree that he was a very modest man with a passion. He did not care for much recognition. He just wanted to do his work and research and with the number of research papers that have his name on it, he really kept himself busy.
Another crop that was developed into a viable agricultural product is ohelo. In the past, if you wanted ohelo, you would have to go to the Volcano or other forests to gather the berries. Dr, Zee worked with Takeshi Akatsuka of Akatsuka Orchids to try to grow ohelo. Takeshi remembers how helpful Dr. Zee was with his knowledge and will always be thankful to him. Today, there are several farmers growing ohelo commercially thanks to Dr. Zee’s research.
Hawaii Tropical Fruit Growers named Dr. Zee as a recipient of their Appreciation Award. Ken Love, the Hawaii Tropical Growers executive director stated that “each of our award recipients have gone out of their way to help Hawaii’s fruit industry prosper. Dr. Francis Zee, horticulturist and retired USDA researcher at Hilo Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center, was recognized for his efforts in assisting fruit growers statewide, in addition to being credited as ‘the grandfather of tea growing and processing on the Big Island.’”
I remember when Dr. Zee proudly took me to see the farm where he had several tropical and exotic trees. He wanted to show me all of the crops that were never before grown in Hawaii and were doing so well. He had harvested a huge durian and was very proud of it. He opened the durian up and I ate a piece of it. I had already eaten this fruit while in Thailand and was familiar with its taste.
He had a passion for cooking and I would run into him often at the supermarket. He was not much for words as he seemed in a hurry to get started on whatever he was cooking for the family dinner.
You might say he was a man with so much knowledge and passion for what he did but never wanted to be recognized for it. He was a great man and we will surely miss him!
Dr. Zee’s celebration of life will be held this Saturday at Dodo Mortuary.
Email Audrey Wilson at audreywilson808@gmail.com.