In Memorium: Minoo B. Madon 1939–2020

Sadly, on August 13, 2020, our friend and colleague Minoo B. Madon died at age 81. Minoo was hospitalized with Covid-19 pneumonia on July 8^th where he remained on a ventilator and sedated until his passing. Minoo was born March 6, 1939 in Secundrabad India, a Parsi (Persian Zoroastrian). As a young man he emigrated to the United States, attended and completed college at the University of Arizona, and eventually was naturalized as a U. S. citizen.

With several coworkers, Minoo was one of the founders and earliest members of SOVE. His efforts in helping to establish SOVE, his tireless work assisted by Jack Shanafelt in editing and printing the Society's incipient years of scientific publications and newsletters, and his continuous work in helping to grow the domestic and international SOVE organization, has led to its immeasurable success today. The history of SOVE is well documented and authored by Minoo and Dr. Cluff Hopla in the June 2005, Volume 30, No. 1 of the journal. In that publication, one can see the extensive involvement Minoo had in the formative and later years of the Society.

Minoo was an outstanding field biologist and vector ecologist. His many years spanned various careers in biology. He was initially an entomologist for a pest control company but soon left that career to become a biologist for the California Department of Public Health, Vector-borne Disease Section (VBDS), where he stayed with the official title of Senior Public Health Biologist until his retirement in 1998. In the many years he worked at the VBDS, Minoo was regarded with high praise and well respected for his knowledge and experience in the field surveillance of vector-borne diseases and control and abatement of spiders, rodents, mosquitoes, and pests in general. Not one to rest on his professional laurels, shortly after his retirement from VBDS, Minoo accepted the position of Director of Scientific Technical Services for the Greater Los Angeles County Vector Control District (GLACVCD), his final professional career. As General Manager of the District and knowing the many years Minoo had previously worked for VBDS, I was was fortunate to benefit from his years of experience, work ethic, and accomplishments during his ten years with GLACVCD. After GLACVCD, Minoo joined Avatar Meher Baba Center, a cultural Indian organization, becoming one of its Board of Directors and hands-on volunteer.

In addition to being an intelligent, fiercely dedicated, and talented professional, Minoo was a man of genuine humility and humor. Among his friends and closest colleagues he was known affectionately as “Mad Dog.” The moniker presumably stemmed from his last name, but Minoo was the antithesis of that characterization. His surviving two daughters and four adult grandchildren knew him as kind and warm-hearted, and generous to the point of sacrificing his time and material things for them. Likeable, self-effacing, and instantly recognizable, with flowing silver-grey hair and matching beard, his presence was unmistakable in a roomful of peers. Many may particularly remember him as the always jovial consummate hospitality bartender at SOVE conferences and events. I remember him respectfully and affectionately as a dear friend who unfortunately passed too soon and will be terribly missed.