George Henry Hargreaves 4.2.1916 - 9.5.2009

My grandpa passed away recently and my grandma is very ill with brain cancer. I grew up very close to my grandparents and spent nearly every summer there as a child. I was named after my grandmother and like to think that she and I are similar in a lot of ways. I greatly admire my grandparents, the life they led and the marriage they had. Below is the obituary that will be in the Logan newspaper which is a very good glimpse into the life of my grandfather.

George Henry Hargreaves passed away peacefully on September 5, 2009.

Throughout his life and distinguished career as a civil engineer, he was deeply concerned with the dignity of each human being and the future of humanity. He tried to make people aware that we are globally interconnected and that actions in one place have global consequences. In particular, he worked in more than thirty countries to ensure that future generations would have food and potable water. He is internationally famous for developing the “Hargreaves Method” of predicting crop water requirements. In his later years, he promoted the use of renewable energy, focusing on sustainable development and strategies that could benefit all of humanity.

George was born in Chico, California on April 2, 1916. He spent his high school years in Ukiah, near the family farm in Redwood Valley, California. In 1939, he earned his bachelor’s degree in soils from the University of California, Berkeley and a civil engineering degree in 1943 from the University of Wyoming. In 1943, he married Elizabeth A. Gardner, who died in 1947. In 1951, he married Sara Romero Sevilla in San Jose, Costa Rica.

During WWII, he was a naval officer in charge of activities related to mine warfare and sonar research. After the war, he worked in soils, irrigated agriculture, and water resources development for various governmental agencies – civil engineer U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Sacramento, CA, 1946-48; reclamation engineer, Greece 1948-49; engineer for the Agency for International Development in Costa Rica, Peru, Haiti, Philippines, Brazil, and Colombia, 1950-68; chief civil engineer Natural Resources Division Inter American Geodetic Survey, Panama Canal Zone, 1968-70.

After retiring from government service, he joined the staff at Utah State University as an irrigation research engineer, 1970-86; research professor emeritus, 1986. He authored World Water for Agriculture, 1977; served as lead author for Irrigation Fundamentals, 1998 (Fundamentos Del Riego, 2000); and wrote numerous technical papers published in professional journals.

In 1997, he received the American Society of Civil Engineers’ prestigious Royce J. Tipton award. This award is made to a member who has made a definitive contribution to the advancement of irrigation and drainage engineering through notable performance and long years of service. The “Hargreaves Formula” for estimating evapotranspiration is used worldwide. Since the 1950s, he has been listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the West, and Who’s Who Internationally.

When George moved to Logan, he became a member of the Logan Kiwanis Club. He enjoyed playing bridge, and was a man of few words with a great sense of humor. George is survived by his wife Sara, four children (Margaret Stolpmann, Sonia Hart, Mark and George Leo Hargreaves), six grandchildren (Darwin, Thea, Sara Carolina, Sofia Cristina, Frances, and Oliver) and four great-grandchildren (Renée, Isabella, Dimitri, and Diego). He is preceded in death by two sons, Ronald and Henry.

Memorial contributions in honor of George H. Hargreaves may be sent to the College of Engineering Irrigation Program, Utah State University, 4100 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322-4100 or at www.usu.edu/giving.

Per his desires, there will not be a viewing. Interment will be at a later date.