John G. Moseman, 84; USDA Scientist

John G. Moseman, 84, a U.S. Department of Agriculture research scientist who specialized in studying the pests that infect barley, died of lung cancer July 24 at his home in Gaithersburg.

Dr. Moseman, in more than 40 years at the USDA, helped scientists and farmers understand powdery mildew and leaf rust, pathogens that can damage and destroy the cereal grain. Using both traditional and new techniques, he bred strains of barley that proved resistant to these diseases.

A major food and animal-feed crop, barley is used in both bread and beer and has been cultivated by humans since the late Stone Age in the Middle East. It was a staple food of ancient Egypt and is still among the top three crops grown worldwide.

Dr. Moseman, who wrote more than 100 research papers, coordinated international research projects and was the keynote speaker at many worldwide conferences on cereal crops, did his best to maintain the scientific ethos of sharing knowledge worldwide, despite politics. During the late 1960s, he coordinated two similar research projects, one with an Israeli scientist and one with an Egyptian scientist. He organized a meeting with the pair at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid, allowing them to share data that led to the much-needed development of drought-resistant strains of barley.

When diplomatic issues in the 1960s made contact between American and Soviet scientists exceedingly difficult, Dr. Moseman arranged for plant material and genetic information to be transferred to a Canadian scientist, who could relay it to the then-Soviet Union.

In 1972, Dr. Moseman became chairman of the USDA's Plant Genetics and Germplasm Institute in Beltsville. He retired in 1986.

Born in Oakland, Neb., he grew up on a farm during the Depression. After graduating from high school at 16, he spent a year working with his father and older brother developing hybrid seed corn. The seed had to be stripped from each cob and carefully sorted by hand. "Moseman and Sons Iowa 139 Seed Corn" was the first certified hybrid seed corn sold in Nebraska.

He graduated from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and immediately entered the Army Air Forces. He was trained as a meteorologist at New York University and served as a weather forecaster for a B-29 squadron based in Fairmont, Neb. He later served in Puerto Rico and Guam.

After his discharge in 1947, he received a master's degree in plant genetics at Washington State University in Pullman, Wash., and a doctorate in plant pathology from Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.

Dr. Moseman joined the faculty at North Carolina State University in 1950 on a joint appointment with the USDA research station in Raleigh. In 1954, he was transferred to the Agricultural Research Center at Beltsville, where he served as a bench scientist before becoming leader of barley investigations and finally chairman of the institute.

While living in Adelphi and Silver Spring in the 1960s and 1970s, he was the chairman of the local Boy Scout Troop and a volunteer with Meals on Wheels. He was a member of the University of Maryland's Terrapin Club.

At University United Methodist Church in College Park, he served as a Sunday school teacher, church trustee and a member of the Council of Ministries. At the time of his death, he was a member of Grace United Methodist Church in Gaithersburg.

Dr. Moseman was a fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Phytopathological Society. He belonged to the honor society Phi Kappa Phi and to Sigma Xi, the scientific research society. After his retirement, he was president of Friends of Agricultural Research at Beltsville.

Survivors include his wife of 58 years, Marjorie Jean Bell Moseman of Gaithersburg; three children, Dr. David R. Moseman of St. Paul, Minn., the Rev. Barbara Smith of Nevada City, Calif., and Tom Moseman of Equinunk, Pa.; and a brother.