University Diaries » An aromatic ponkan mandarin grows in Brooklyn.

Professor Jerry Dimitman, who has died at 91, lived a long, beautiful, American story. From the balcony of his parents’ small New York apartment he grew plants, and then, with money his mother’s sister won in a lottery, he moved to California. He worked in orchards and got degrees in botany.

Stationed in the Pacific during the war, “he became fascinated with the culture, and particularly the fruits, of Eastern Asia.”

After his retirement from Cal Poly Pomona, he “spent many years abroad as a consultant in plant pathology and education in Greece, Guatemala, Yemen and other countries, where he became known for his habit of suddenly driving his car off the road to investigate plants that caught his eye.”

But the main thing about this guy is that in 1953 he bought property

after carefully investigating the suitability of its microclimate for growing Asian fruits. In addition to tending the grove with great skill, he often waited decades for slow-growing exotic trees to mature into majestic specimens loaded with fruit. Just as important, he established close connections with members of his area’s Asian American community, who gave him some of his prized varieties, and by whom he was regarded with something close to reverence.

Riots practically broke out when he sold this stuff at the local farmers’ market; he always told reporters to keep the address of his property out of stories to “deter intrusions by overzealous fruit lovers.”

His mother’s name was Rose Moss.

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Notes of a Neophyte

Susan Dimitman Purdy Says:
March 15th, 2016 at 12:28AM

I missed this particular article after papa passed. I much enjoyed it. One error was he did not visit all those countries after retirement but was consulting all along while and for Cal Poly in Pomona all those years. Traveling to many jungle areas of Chile, Bolivia and Guatemala to not only find and cure the plant diseases but to teach the scientist, doctors, students etc. how it is done. To help them know what to look for so that they don’t spread. Much like human diseases.

He also received most of the original cuttings for his exotic trees of today directly from his trips to China in the old days. His Lychee, Wampee, Longan and Pummelo thrive today. He also has trees (started from cutting or air layers) from Vietnam, Hawaii and Thailand. Some he named himself – Pummelos WONG and CHONG (after close friends) he created by combining two varieties. He had a network of past students, colleagues and friends all around the world that he got information and plants on the exotic fruits of Asia.

Thank you and especially for the mention of my grandmother Rose who would have been 122 on her birthday next month the 5th. Papa’s gone already 4 years, mama almost 45 years and Rose not 25 yet. It’s never easy to lose someone you love. They still ask after him every Sunday we sell at market. Keep up the good work. Suzie Purdy

Margaret Soltan Says:
March 15th, 2016 at 2:46AM

Suzie: Thank you so much for that additional information, and for sharing more details of your father’s amazing life.

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