Wilson Popenoe

Frederick Wilson Popenoe was an American botanist and agronomist whose work as a United States Department of Agriculture plant explorer helped establish avocado cultivation as a commercial industry. Between 1916 and 1924 he traveled through Latin America searching for superior avocado strains on the department's behalf, documenting his finds for the National Geographic Society, and his selections contributed directly to the varieties that later underpinned commercial avocado growing. He went on to serve as the first director of the Pan-American Agricultural School, Zamorano, in Honduras, building it into a leading institution for training agricultural professionals across Central America, and in 1925 he became chief agronomist of the United Fruit Company, extending his influence over tropical agriculture in the region for decades. His home in Antigua, Guatemala, Casa Popenoe, survives today as a museum devoted to his life and work.