Lawrence Bogorad, a leading researcher in plant biology who was widely known for work on the synthesis of chlorophyll and on inheritance patterns in plants, died Dec. 28. He was 82.
Mr. Bogorad died of a stroke while on vacation with his family in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, according to his daughter, Kiki Bogorad-Gross.
Mr. Bogorad taught biology at Harvard University for more than two decades. Since the 1970s, his research on plant genetics has helped guide younger scientists in the field.
“He was the towering figure in work that led to the understanding of the distribution and location of plant genes, and what the genes code for,” said Woody Hastings, a Harvard professor of molecular and cellular biology and a colleague.
Mr. Bogorad, who retired from Harvard in 1991, served as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Society of Plant Physiologists.
Born in what is now Uzbekistan, Mr. Bogorad grew up in Chicago and received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago in 1942.
After serving in the military, he obtained a doctorate in botany from the University of Chicago and later joined the faculty. In 1967, he went to Harvard.
Survivors include his wife, Rosalyn, and a son, Leonard.
