Car Accident Claims Life of Ohio State University Scientist Benjamin Stinner
by Mauricio Espinoza (espinoza.15@osu.edu)

WOOSTER, Ohio -- Benjamin R. Stinner, holder of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation-endowed chair in ecological management in Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, died Nov. 23 in an automobile accident in Wooster, Ohio. He was 50.

Stinner, a professor of entomology at the university’s Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC), was an international leader in the areas of agroecology and sustainable agriculture. He joined Ohio State as an assistant professor in 1982 and worked on OARDC’s Wooster campus ever since.

“Ben Stinner was a visionary individual whose ideas and thoughts impacted all who came in contact with him, personally and professionally,” said OARDC Director Steve Slack. “His presence always propelled people forward in their thinking and actions. His loss is substantial.”

Stinner made significant research and outreach contributions in the ecology and economics of whole-farm systems, arthropod ecology, nutrient cycling, the role of organic matter in soil fertility, and the ecology of Amish farming.

As the leader of OARDC’s Agroecosystems Management Program (AMP), Stinner brought together a wide diversity of experts, from animal and plant scientists to social scientists and economists, and non-university stakeholders to take part in this grassroots endeavor. His love for the land and his intellectual depth made him a pioneer in agricultural and environmental research. To AMP he also brought his distinguished research record, his talent as a leader, facilitator and consensus builder, and his ability to team with farmers and landholders in a new level of partnership for the land-grant university system.

Stinner was also a member of Ohio State University Extension’s Sustainable Agriculture Team and a co-organizer of and participant in Extension’s On-Farm Research Program.


A native of Lykens, Pa., who was proud of his Pennsylvania Dutch heritage, Stinner received his bachelor’s degree in biology from Susquehanna University in 1975, his master’s degree in biology with an emphasis on insect ecology from Bucknell University in 1978, and his doctoral degree in entomology/ecology from the University of Georgia in 1981.

“Ben will be remembered for his visionary leadership toward a new and much brighter future for agriculture in Ohio,” a group of friends and colleagues of Stinner said. “He was a brilliant thinker, an inspiring mentor, a great friend to those who knew him, a devoted husband and father.”

Stinner lived in Smithville, Ohio, and is survived by his wife, Deborah -- also an OARDC researcher and a member of AMP, and the leader of OARDC’s Organic Food and Farming Education and Research (OFFER) program -- and their two children, Kristina and Jed. He had a wealth of interests, from hunting and fishing to wine-making, violin and organic gardening.

Plans to endow his visionary work are in progress, said Casey Hoy, associate chair and professor in the Department of Entomology at OARDC.

Tributes to Ben:
Kathleen Delate, ISU Associate Professor, Horticulture and Agronomy, "Paying tribute to a friend and colleague: Ben Stinner’s work as ‘dreamer and weaver’ in sustainable ag leaves a deep legacy," in The New Farm.

Letter from Larksong, Farming Magazine.

Innovative Farmers of Ohio, The Ben Stinner Sustainable Agriculture Achievement Award.