Fumio Matsumura

Fumio Matsumura, 78, a professor of environmental toxicology and entomology at the University of California, Davis, and a renowned insect toxicologist, died of complications from pneumonia on Dec. 6, 2012.

Born in Japan, he received a B.S. in agricultural biology in 1957 from the University of Tokyo. He moved to Canada and earned an M.S. in entomology in 1959 from the University of Alberta and a Ph.D. in zoology in 1961 from the University of Western Ontario.

Early in his career, Matsumura joined the entomology department at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. In 1977, he was appointed director of the Pesticide Research Center at Michigan State University. In addition to teaching and conducting research, he was involved with the national IR-4 Program, which aids growers with pest management.

Matsumura joined the UC Davis faculty in 1987 as associate director of the UC system’s toxic substances research and teaching program. He later served as director of the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences-funded Center for Environmental Health Sciences at UC Davis. He was chair of the university’s environmental toxicology department from 1996 to 1998 and taught graduate courses on environmental toxicants and ecotoxicology.

His pioneering research involved the toxicology, biodegradation, and mechanisms of action of pesticides, dioxins, and contaminants. He also studied biologically active substances, oncogenes, and protein kinases. Matsumura authored the text “Toxicology of Insecticides” and served as editor of Pesticide Biochemistry & Physiology.

He received numerous awards, including the International Award for Research in Agrochemicals from ACS, which he joined in 1965.

Matsumura is survived by his wife, Teruko, and sons, Ichiro and Miko.