Michael G. Boosalis, 99, of Lincoln, died July 4. Boosalis was a faculty member in the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Department of Plant Pathology from 1951 to 1988.
Boosalis was born Sept. 20, 1917, in Fairbault, Minnesota, to Gus and Mary (Prokovakis) Boosalis. He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II and was a bombardier on a B-24 Liberator while stationed in Italy. In 1951, after earning a bachelor’s degree and doctorate at the University of Minnesota, Boosalis joined the University of Nebraska’s Department of Plant Pathology, teaching and conducting research into plant diseases.
From 1964 to 1984, Boosalis served as chair of plant pathology. He retired in 1988, but continued to conduct research until the age of 97.
Boosalis was also a proud supporter of his wife, Helen Boosalis, a political pioneer who was Lincoln’s first female mayor and a 1986 gubernatorial nominee.
He is survived by daughter, Mary Beth Boosalis Davis and her husband Maxwell Davis of Evanston, Illinois; grandsons, Michael Davis and Christopher (wife Christine) Davis; great-granddaughter, Helen Davis; siblings, John Boosalis, William Boosalis and Elaine Smith; and many nieces and nephews. He is preceded in death by his wife, Helen; parents; siblings, Nicholas Boosalis, George Boosalis, Theodore Boosalis and Georgia Kootsikas.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. July 7, at St Matthew’s Episcopal Church, 2325 S. 24th St., in Lincoln. Memorials are suggested to Center for People in Need, Arbor Day Foundation or Annunciation Church in Lincoln. For more information, or to sign an online guestbook, click here.
