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Gary Bennett: Major League Mentor
1 Oct, 2006 By: Marty Whitford Pest Management ProfessionalFor nearly four decades, Gary Bennett has helped shape the minds of tomorrow's industry leaders — that is, when he wasn't busy organizing the Purdue Pest Management Conference
Kathy Heinsohn, staff entomologist for the National Pest Management Association (NPMA), was well down the path of becoming a marine biologist before Gary Bennett did what he had done so many times before — and has done so many times since — namely identify, win over and closely mentor today's best and brightest so tomorrow is as promising as it can be for the pest management industry.
 Gary Bennett |
"Initially, I fought Gary tooth and nail on joining Purdue's doctoral program in entomology. I can't tell you how glad I am today that he was so patient and persistent with me," Heinsohn said.
"Not only has Gary unselfishly shared his extensive knowledge and contacts with me and so many others, but he also has been instrumental in organizing the world-renowned Purdue conference and has co-authored several editions of Truman's Guide to Pest Management Operations, our industry's bible," Heinsohn said.
PEST CONTROL ROOTS
Gary Bennett's service to our industry began in 1954, when he started spraying pesticides at age 12 outside of structures as a technician's assistant at his dad's Lake Charles, La.-based Bennett Pest Control.
"Those were the good old days when we were using chlorinated hydrocarbons so there weren't many callbacks," Bennett chuckles.
It didn't take Bennett long to work his way inside of structures ... and our wonderful community of pest management professionals.
Even before Bennett earned a master's degree in entomology from Louisiana State University, he broke new ground by conducting toxicology tests and establishing physiological resistance levels for various German cockroach strains.
While earning his Ph.D. in entomology from North Carolina State University, Bennett extended his leading-edge research to include studies of roaches' behavioral resistances.
Bennett applied for and accepted the position of assistant professor in the Department of Entomology at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., shortly before graduating from North Carolina State.
 Bennett (standing, far right, above) always finds himself in the center of groups of PMPs, making connections and making friends along the way (second from right, below). |
"I had never even been to Indiana before I accepted the post," Bennett adds. "When my lovely bride, Milta, and I got to Purdue, there was snow up to our knees. Milta had only seen snow two or three times in her life, she was seven months pregnant, and I had to leave there and return to North Carolina a few days after Christmas to complete my dissertation."
Two children and 37 Purdue Pest Management Conferences later, Bennett is still running the show and deflecting credit as coordinator of Purdue's Urban and Industrial Pest Management Center.
MAKING THE GRADE
Bennett's significant and tireless contributions to the pest management community earned him induction into the Pest Control Hall of Fame Class of 2006. Following is just a small sampling of the straight A's given Bennett by his industry colleagues:
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