Hall Of Fame Inductees
The individuals nominated should have made a significant impact or positive influence that assures the future of our industry in the lives of generations to come.
Once nominated, an individual’s biography and photo are updated on the site, and he or she is placed in the polls for voting. At the end of the year the committee takes into consideration the votes and decides which candidates are inducted.
Those with a star (*) next to their name below were either inducted posthumously or have passed away since being inducted.
Nomination Qualifications
- Person with integrity and passion
- Minimum 20 years in industry
- Someone who has developed or invented new technology
- Has made contributions that resulted in change
- Contributed to mankind’s needs in his field
- Provided education and encouragement with self-sacrifice
- Changed the industry
Donald Hodel
UC Extension, LA Horticulturalist (retired)
Donald R. Hodel is the Cooperative Extension Environmental Horticulturist Emeritus for the University of California in Los Angeles, a full title position he has held for 36 years. His research is in the area of selection, planting, and management of woody plants in the landscape with a special emphasis on plant water use, trees, and palms. A graduate of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (B.S., ornamental horticulture, 1974), and the University of Hawaii (M.S., tropical horticulture, 1975), he is considered a world leader in palm taxonomy and horticulture.
Hodel has authored or co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed (refereed) journal articles and over 600 trade or popular articles about selection, planting, and management of woody landscape plants, including palms. He has authored eight books, four them about palms and four about trees. Hodel has made over 450 presentations to industry groups, professional and honor societies, university and other governmental agencies, and consumers about various aspects of landscape plant management.
Hodel has traveled to explore for and conduct research on palms and trees in the South Pacific, Australia, Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), Malaysia, Mexico, Cuba, Central America, and South America. He has been a member of the American Society for Horticultural Science, International Society of Arboriculture, Society for Economic Botany, International Palm Society, California Association of Nurserymen, Nursery Growers Association, Southern California Horticulture Institute, and Alpha Xi, the collegiate honor society of horticulture, and has been an invited presenter at numerous international and national meetings, conferences, and symposia.