Bug Squad
Article

Impact of Life Work of Jeff Aldrich Continues to Unfold

  • August 7, 2025
  • By Kathy Keatley Garvey
eff Aldrich (center) with colleagues Ashot Khrimian (left) and Qing-He Zhang at the ISCE meeting in Budapest, 2018. (Photo courtesy of Don Weber)
Jeff Aldrich (center) with colleagues Ashot Khrimian (left) and Qing-He Zhang at the ISCE meeting in Budapest, 2018. (Photo courtesy of Don Weber)

The impact of the life work of renowned chemical ecologist Jeff Aldrich (1949-2025) continues to unfold.

Aldrich, a research entomologist at USDA-ARS from 1980 to 2011, who then worked with UC Davis  Department of Entomology and Nematology researchers for a decade, died June 28 at age 75 in Fort Myers, Fla. 

He worked with integrated pest management specialist, UC Davis Distinguished Professor Emeritus (on recall) Professor Frank Zalom of the Department of Entomology and Nematology, and chemical ecologist and entomologist, UC Davis Distinguished Professor Walter Leal, former chair of the Department of Entomology and now with the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, College of Biological Sciences.

The latest impact to unfold came via a note from from entomologist David James, associate professor at Washington State University, whose research includes migratory monarchs:

"I am shocked and saddened to hear of Jeff's passing. He was instrumental in my career in Australia when I worked with stink bugs and assassin bug pheromones... he was so much help to me...in our collaborations which led to published papers. He helped me identify, synthesize and field test a male-produced sex pheromone of the Spined Citrus Bug, a pest of Australian citrus. We were great friends in those years, I visited him at his house in DC, and he came to my house in Australia, when we both reminisced about 70s music as he looked through all my vinyl and drank Aussie beer... He had a sabbatical in Australia, and I visited him at his home in Queensland where I met a very young Ellison (his daughter, who is now a large-animal veterinarian)) and his first wife. His enthusiasm for his work was just as you described... it was infectious.... and he had so many ideas, many of which I used in my research... I last saw him a few years ago at an entomology conference and happily he was the same Jeff..."
 
"Thank you for writing such a great tribute to him. He really was the only chemical ecologist in the world to specialize on stink bugs, assassin bugs and other true bugs. He will be greatly missed and I am a lot sadder tonight."
 
(See the full article on the UC Davis Entomology and Nematology website; Bug Squad blog, and the outstanding video tribute prepared and launched by Walter Leal.)