Archie N. Tissot, ESA Fellow (1948)

Dr. Archie N. Tissot (deceased 29 May 1986), professor and former chair of the Department of Entomology at the University of Florida's Agricultural Experiment Station, was elected as Fellow in 1948. He was known for his expertise on the biological control of aphids and for his contributions to aphid taxonomy, in particular the genus Cinera, which feeds on pines.

Born in Mowrystown, OH on 22 January 1897, Tissot grew up on his family’s farm. After graduating from high school in 1917, he taught school in a one-room schoolhouse for a year, then took over for his injured father on the family farm for a year before leaving to enroll at Ohio State University's (OSU) College of Agriculture. He received a B.S. in 1923 and an M.S. in 1925, both in entomology. His master's thesis concerned three species of aphids on apples. His work on aphids led him to Florida, to the Agricultural Experiment Station (AES) in Gainesville in 1925 to work on the spirea aphid, Aphis spiraecola (citricola), a new pest of citrus. He returned to OSU in December 1930, earning his Ph.D. in September 1931. Having taken most of his required coursework during his earlier degrees, he was able to concentrate on finishing his dissertation. He then returned to the AES in Gainesville.  He was an associate professor from 1932 to 1946, served as department chair from 1946 to 1962, and retired in 1964.

Tissot’s research centered on the biology and control of agricultural pests, particularly aphids. In the context of entomological history, his service as department head of the AES began at a time when DDT and the new insecticides that followed it were being used indiscriminately and with varying results. This lack of coordination and sharing of experiences began to be remedied by holding annual meetings starting in 1946, of all Florida experiment station entomologists. This new era of collaboration led to multi-day meetings to plan joint experiments to test efficacy of treatments, report results from previous years, and decide on recommended actions for growers around the state. During his tenure in Gainesville, Tissot was integral in the shift away from solely using chemical control and toward more holistic integrated pest management strategies, emphasizing life histories of both the pest and host plant, abiotic factors of weather, the status of natural enemies, and marketing issues including pesticide residues. He authored or co-authored over 40 papers on aphids and 50 articles in popular journals and described 37 new species of aphids. He also taught graduate courses in entomology in the College of Agriculture for about a decade.

Tissot served as the Southeastern Branch president of the ESA in 1956–1957 and was a lifetime member of the Florida Entomological Society, where he held many offices. He also was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Florida Academy of Sciences, Sigma Xi, and Gamma Sigma Delta.

Tissot and his wife of more than 60 years, Hilda, had one daughter and two granddaughters.

(updated April, 2015)