Robert Donald Milholland

Robert Donald Milholland born July 22, 1933 in Little Rock, Arkansas to Ralph and Mona Milholland. He was the second of four children. His younger years were filled with wonderful times hunting, fishing, and playing golf with his father, and a mother who saw to it that he was in Sunday school and church on Sunday mornings.

He graduated from Little Rock Central High School at the age of 16, where he was captain of the golf team in 1949-50. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Georgia Military Academy, obtained a BS degree from Oklahoma A&M, MS degree from Oklahoma State University, and a PhD degree from the University of Minnesota in 1962.

He served in the U S Armed Services as a First Lieutenant during the Korean conflict, 1954-56. He was stationed at Ft. Bliss, Texas as Commanding Officer of the Guided Missile School and spent time at Ft. Benning, Georgia as an M1 Rifle Instructor.

He was hired by N.C. State University in 1963 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology to work on diseases of small fruit and field grown cut flowers. He worked out of the Castle Hayne Research Station near Wilmington for 15 years before moving to Raleigh where he assumed teaching responsibilities as well as research on small fruit diseases. He felt his cooperative work with the strawberry, blueberry, and grape breeders, was very important to the growers of North Carolina and his 100 research publications and monographs. He was also in charge of the Strawberry Certification program at NCSU from 1978-2005 that supplied clean true-to-type plants to nursery growers. He was instrumental in developing the Small Fruit Center, and also the Micro propagation Unit at NCSU for the production of certified strawberry plants.

Bob retired as a Full Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology in June of 1996. He continued working for the MPU as an Emeriti Professor for over 12 years and as a consultant for the Foundation Seed Producers, Inc.

Bob was not an outspoken man, but one who loved the Lord, his family, golf, and singing in the church choir. He sang in the choir at St. Andrews Presbyterian and Grace Community churches for 17 years.

He responded to several names; Honey by his wife, Robert by his mother-in-law, Bob by his friends, Dad by his children, Daddy Bob by the grandchildren, Bobby Don by his sisters, and Doctor by his students at NCSU.

He was married to Celeste Griggs in 1954 and had 3 children, his most prized possessions. He is proceeded in death by his wife Celeste of 62 years. He is survived by his children, Deborah Milholland of Greenville, S.C., Paul and Chrysa Milholland of Midland, M.I., and Terrye and Steve Johnson of Raleigh, N.C. Grandchildren Memory and Robert Stein, William and Natali Cameron, David and Courtney Cameron, Seth, Matthew and Noah Johnson, Katherine, Davis and Caroline Milholland, and Great-Grandchildren, Griggs and Nash Stein, and Cameron.

Bob and Celeste loved calling North Carolina home.

Blessed be the name of the Lord. Amen.