Dr. John A. Wott, former International CEO of the International Plant Propagators Society, passes away.
Dr. John A. Wott, retired Professor Emeritus, Urban Horticulture at the University of Washington and former Washington Park Arboretum Director, passed peacefully on August 28, 2021. John obtained both of his MS & PhD degrees (both in Ornamental Horticulture) in 4 years and thereafter accepted a job at Purdue University on the Home Horticulture faculty. With the exploding interest in home landscaping and the nursery industry, the now Dr. Wott became well known in the home gardening community as the expert in the Midwest, writing over 150 extension publications, making weekly television and radio shows and traveling extensively. Many of those early publications are still in use. In 1980, Dr. Wott was accepted onto the staff in the department of Urban Horticulture, working there from 1981-2006. He taught for many years where he played a major role in the development of the University’s Center for Urban Horticulture. While accomplishing all of this, Dr. Wott also managed to serve for 20 years as the International CEO of the International Plant Propagators Society. He was active in a variety of horticulture and non-horticulture related groups and activities.