William “ Bill ” Preston draw away peacefully February 18 after a long , glad , and accomplished living wall by home and friends . He was a lifelong resident of the Bowie sphere and contributed much to the community and environment he loved . He was an alumnus of U.Md . , achieve his Ph.D. in gardening and earning a U.S. patent for his doctorial work on phosphonium compounds for industrial plant dwarfing .
His early career was with USDA , where he apace rose in responsibleness , finally managing 13 lab and over 200 scientist across the U.S. for testing of pesticide . In 1970 , this division became part of the fresh organize Environmental Protection Agency . At EPA , Dr. Preston moderate a national conference that created workable solutions for safely toss out of unused pesticide . This program is still in spot today and has prevented many piles of pesticide from needlessly polluting the environment and injuring people . Another legacy of Dr. Preston ’s while at EPA was to top the creation of the blessing mental process to ascertain pesticide are sufficiently safe to not cause injury to body of water , wildlife , farm proletarian , and consumer . For this work , he was awarded the Silver Medal for Outstanding Service , the second - gamy credit for an employee of the U.S. government .
After an other retirement from EPA at age 53 , Bill embraced the lifespan of a farmer by starting a modest but successful cut - bloom business . He and his loving ( and patient role ) wife Corinne were fixedness at the College Park and Takoma Park granger markets , where Bill ’s enthusiasm for sharing his knowledge of acquire blossom was as contagious as his flower were beautiful . Bill was a founding member of the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers , now a national organization , and he was a steady attender and speaker at many national conference . In 2002 he was honored as Cut Flower Grower of the Year by the Maryland Greenhouse Growers Association . Bill also had a womb-to-tomb passion for persimmons and started a 180 - Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree orchard in Calvert County of the mixture Gwang Yang , the only commercial plantation of this variety in the Eastern U.S. He authored a ledger on the explorations of P.H. Dorsett , a horticulturist who traveled to China in the 1920 ’s to document persimmon grow practice .
In his late age , Bill and his wife Corinne moved from their Glenn Dale home to the Collington Retirement Community in Mitchellville , MD , where he stay energetic , enthusiastic , and involved in nigh every gardening- and plant - connect activeness until his last day , which is exactly how he wanted it . Bill is pull round by his two daughter , Patricia Pugsley of Mt. Rainier , MD , and Bonita Preston of West Palm Beach , FL . He is predecease by his wife Elizabeth Corinne Preston , and his six brothers and Sister , Ellen Blair , Henrietta Preston , Alice Bowers , Linda Ferguson , Frank Preston , and Steve Preston . Celebration of Life ceremonies will be held Saturday , March 2 , 11:00 AM at Glenn Dale United Methodist Church , Glenn Dale , MD , and Saturday , March 9 , 10:30 AM at Collington Retirement Community , Mitchellville , MD .
In lieu of flower , please consider a donation to corroborate the next multiplication of loss leader in gardening through the American Society for Horticultural Science Endowment Fund , https://ashs.org / donations/ , 703 - 836 - 4606 .
