Aristotel J. Pappelis

Aristotel J. Pappelis, a cell biologist and professor emeritus at Southern Illinois University – Carbondale, died May 1, 2010 at home in Boca Raton, Florida. Dr. Pappelis was an international authority on corn and sorghum diseases and on the origin of life. Dr. Pappelis was born in Cloquet, Minnesota on May 25, 1928 to John and Katherine (Hodgis) Pappelis. On February 11, 1951, he married Kathryn Zahariades in Mason City, Iowa.

Dr. Pappelis received his bachelor’s degree from Wisconsin State College – Superior, Wisconsin in 1951 (chemistry). He then joined the U.S. Air Force, serving as a training officer at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama during the Korean War. In 1953, he was a ground observer during atomic weapons tactical warfare training exercises with marines at Camp Desert Rock, Nevada. He wrote a biochemical defense plan for the military that was still in use during Operation Desert Storm. He was honorably discharged in 1955 as a First Lieutenant. Dr. Pappelis received his doctoral degree (PhD) in plant physiology at Iowa State University in 1957. He immediately joined the staff at the US Dept of Agriculture in Miami, Florida as a research plant physiologist studying the market quality of tropical fruits and vegetables. Then, from 1959 to 1960, he taught plant pathology at Western Illinois University. From 1960 until his retirement in 2003, Dr. Pappelis taught biology, plant pathology, cell biology and origin of life at Southern Illinois University. By 1968, Dr. Pappelis was an international authority on stalk rot responses in corn and sorghum. In the 1980s and 1990s, Dr. Pappelis was further lauded for his work on cell aging and death, and the origin of life on Earth. Dr. Pappelis gave

presentations to the American Chemical Society (1993 and 1995), the Oparin Centennial symposia (Moscow, Russia and Trieste, Italy, 1994) and the C. Ponnamperuma Memorial (Trieste, Italy, 1995). He was associate editor for Ethnobotanical Leaflets, a web journal published by SIU-C. Dr. Pappelis published more than 200 articles in professional science journals. “In addition to his research and teaching, he was a serious philosopher,” said Dr. Donald Ugent, a good friend and colleague from SIU-C. “He lived up to his name, ‘Aristotel.’” Dr. Pappelis is survived by his wife, Kathryn, a son, Gus (Jerre Ann) Pappelis of Portland, Oregon, and daughters Tina (Matthew) Franklin of Springfield, Illinois and Joanne (Jack) Antoniou Weingold of Boca Raton, Florida, and seven grandchildren, Eleni and Nicole Pappelis, Mark and Kelly Franklin, and Stephanie, Alexia and Dean Antoniou. Friends may call from 6-8 pm on Wednesday, May 5th at Babione-Kraeer Funeral Home (West Chapel). Funeral Services will be held at 10:00 am on Thursday May 6th at Saint Mark’s Greek Orthodox Church in Boca Raton. Burial will follow at the Boca Raton Cemetery. The family requests expressions of sympathy be made to St. Marks Greek Orthodox Church in Boca Raton, FL.

Arrangements under the direction of Babione Funeral Home, Boca Raton, FL.