Ganga Nair: Ceremony, lab dedication recall standout scholar

Friends and family of the late Ganga V.M. Nair gathered at UW-Green Bay May 6 to celebrate the memory of one of the University’s most renowned faculty members.

The occasion was the dedication and naming of the Ganga V.M. Nair Research Laboratory on the second floor of the Laboratory Sciences Building.

A large crowd filled the microbiology lab, LS 214, to hear remarks and remembrances and see the unveiling of the commemorative plaque. (From left in photo above are Prof. Alma Rodriguez-Estrada, who succeeded Dr. Nair on the faculty and teaches courses in the lab; Mrs. Elizabeth Nair; Prof. Kumar Kangayappan; Chancellor Thomas K. Harden and Prof. Greg Davis, current chair of Dr. Nair’s longtime academic unit, Natural and Applied Sciences.)

Nair earned an international reputation and became a sought-after consultant with his research on mycoplasma diseases in trees, the breeding and cloning of disease-resistant species, reforestation, preservation and the propagation of medicinal forest plants. A member of the founding generation of UW-Green Bay faculty members, he was the first recipient of the Founders Association Award for Excellence in Scholarship, in 1976.

Nair passed away on March 10, 2010, at the age of 80. A scholarship fund was created in his honor.

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