Dr. Stephen Owen Ryan, 76, of Gainesville, Florida, passed away peacefully after a brief illness, surrounded by his loving family on February 18, 2012.
Dr. Ryan was born on April 5, 1935 to Grace V. Hock and Delbert O. Ryan of Woodstock, IL. He graduated from Woodstock High School and then served in the U.S. Army in Korea during the Korean conflict. He married Nancy Fues in 1957 and attended Milton College in Milton, Wisconsin before graduating in forestry from Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa in 1960. He received a Masters degree in entomology from the University of Massachusetts, in Amherst, Massachusetts, then served in Wisconsin and Minnesota as a forest entomologist. Dr. Ryan received a PhD in entomology from Iowa State University in 1974. He served with the agricultural extension service at Iowa State University until 1976. The balance of his career was spent as a county and district cooperative extension director with the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences in Homestead and Gainesville, Florida until his retirement in 1997. He married Jean Borrall Brown in 1981.
Dr. Ryan was preceded in death by his parents, his sister Alice, and his brother Phillip. He is survived by his wife, Jean, three sons, Christopher (Jeanne) of Jacksonville, Florida, Michael (Melanie) of Columbus, Ohio, and Sean of Ames, Iowa, three siblings, Jessica, Alex, and Katie, niece Laura, nephew Stephen, 4 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren. He loved his family and friends dearly, as they loved him. He will be deeply missed, but he will always be with us.
Dr. Ryan preferred that no funeral or memorial service be held. Instead and in lieu of flowers, please send a donation to the National Kidney Foundation in his name.