Dr. Harold W. Fogle, inventor of the Rainier cherry, died last October in Takoma Park, Maryland, aged 88. Fogle grew up in West Virginia and earned a master’s degree in horticulture from West Virginia University. In 1949, after earning his doctorate from the University of Minnesota, Fogle took a research position with Washington State University at the Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center in Prosser, and became the first stone fruit breeder there. In 1952, he made crosses from the two red cherries Bing and Van. One of the selections was the yellow-fleshed cherry that became Rainier. The variety was […]