Jesse Roy Christie was born in New Boston, New Hampshire, U.S.A., on 17 September 1889. He attended the University of New Hampshire from 1909-1913, transferred to the University of Kentucky, and received the B.S. degree in Agriculture in 1914. He was employed as Instructor of Zoology at the University of Maryland 1915-16, and served in the U. S. Army from 1917-1919. He received the M.S. in Parasitology from the University of Illinois in 1918. After being released from the military he served as Professor of Zoology, Fairmount College, Achita, Kansas, from 1919-1920. Then from 1920-1922 he was Associate Professor of Zoology at James Millikin University, Decatur, Illinois.
In 1922, Christie made a change that was to become significantly important to the science of nematology, he became Assistant Nematologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), working in Falls Church, Virginia. His early work there was on nematode parasites of insects, and most of us are familiar with his classic study on the mermithid parasites of grasshoppers. (See Nematology News Letter 14(4):15-16 for his interesting account on egg-laying by mermithids.)

      In the mid-1930's, Christie was transferred to Beltsville to work on plant parasitic nematodes. From that work came his classic studies on root-knot nematodes. He also discovered the nematicidal potential of EDB (ethylene dibromide), which was marketed beginning in 1945. (See NNL 14(4):17-18 for his interesting account on plant parasitic nematodes.)
        While in the Washington area, he also found time to enroll in George Washington University, from which he earned the Ph.D. degree in Parasitology in 1934.

        In 1948, the USDA transferred Christie to Florida's Agricultural Experiment Station in Sanford to investigate some troublesome nematode problems in that area. During this time he and his assistant, V. G. Perry, discovered and published in 1951 on the first proof of pathogenicity of an ectoparasitic nematode later named in his honor Trichodorus christiei.

        In 1953, Christie retired from the USDA and accepted an FAO assignment to explore nematode problems in Indonesia. Nematology News Letter 12(3) - 14(3) published a series of his writings on that trip.
        Christie returned to Florida in 1954. The University of Florida's Department of Entomology in Gainesville employed Dr. Christie in that year to establish a nematology program. He retired for a second time on June 30, 1960, and accepted Emeritus Professor status.
        Many students of today know Dr. Christie by his book, "Plant Nematodes Their Bionomics and Control," published in 1959 by the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station. That book was translated into Spanish in 1970 by the Agency for International Development.

        Christie had many honors and awards bestowed upon him as tokens of appreciation for his outstanding service. He was Recording Secretary of the Helminthological Society of Washington in 1926-1927 and 1929-1930; President in 1930-1931; first Editor of its Proceedings 1934-1947; and was elected to Life Membership in 1956. The Society of Nematologists elected him to Honorary Membership in 1968, the Florida Nematology Forum gave him the same honor in 1970, and the Soil and Crop Science Society of Florida did likewise in 1974. The American Phytopathological Society elected him a Fellow in 1972. In Florida he received the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association's Research Award in 1957, and the Gamma Sigma Delta Senior Faculty Award in 1961.

        Christie spent his retirement years in Nova Scotia and Florida. One of his last trips was to Italy in 1977. After that trip he returned to his home in Orlando, Florida, where he died of cancer on 21 April 1978. We shall all miss this man who contributed so much to our science and set many standards of excellence for us.