Donald J. Nevins

Donald James Nevins July 1937 – July 2025

Don was born to Elizabeth Wreden Nevins and Vernon Nevins in San Luis Obispo, California. He attended schools there, including college at Cal Poly, and from a certain age spent part of his summers working on the family ranch located on the Carrizo Plains in eastern San Luis Obispo County. The plan was for him to eventually manage that ranch, but while attending college at Cal Poly his advisor encouraged him to go on to graduate school and put him in touch with an agronomy professor at University of California, Davis. So he began a master’s program there and went on to earn a PhD as well.

It was at UC Davis that he met his future wife, Sylvia Nelson from Southern California. They were married at the Presbyterian Church in San Pedro, CA in 1962. Shortly after they were married, Sylvia’s parents moved to the property west of Hamilton they had purchased in 1957.

After he completed his Phd in 1965 they moved to Boulder, CO where he did post-doctoral research at the University of Colorado. Both their daughters were born in Boulder—Jennifer a few months after they arrived and Stephanie just before they left for Ames, Iowa where he had obtained a position as an assistant professor at Iowa State University. During his time at ISU he took a sabbatical leave which was split between doing research at Osaka City University, in Osaka, Japan and at Stockholm University in Stockholm, Sweden. To get to Stockholm from Japan they took a ship from Tokyo to the east coast of the then Soviet Union and the trans-siberian railroad to Moscow followed by a flight from Moscow to Stockholm.

Several years after returning to Iowa Don accepted an offer to return to UC Davis as a full professor. After returning there he did one more sabbatical which was split between Osaka City University and La Trobe University in Australia. He retired from UC Davis in July of 2011.

His primary focus of research was on the biochemistry and functions of plant cell walls. Many of his research papers from 1963 on can be found at researchgate.net/profile www /Don-Nevins.

Don also had practical handyman skills and took on finishing and remodeling projects in the properties they owned over the years.

Don and Sylvia enjoyed visiting her parents in Hamilton and so purchased the property west of Hamilton from her father after her mother died. They also purchased cemetery plots next to her parents.

There will be a graveside service for Don at the Hamilton Riverside Cemetery on July 26 th at 11am.