USDA Distinguished Researcher Dr. T.C.Tso Dies

April, 2013 — Former laboratory director at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Dr. Tien C. Tso, better known as “T.C,” died April 9, 2013 at his residence in Riderwood in Silver Spring, of natural causes.  He was 95.

A long time resident of Beltsville, MD, he began forging a distinguished USDA career in 1950 at the Tobacco Research Laboratory in Beltsville. He started as a research scientist and ultimately became laboratory director. Tso conducted basic and applied tobacco research. As chief tobacco scientist representing the USDA, he collaborated with the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (now U.S. Department of Health and Human Services), universities, research institutes, and industry in the US and internationally to develop smoking and health programs.

His major research achievements include advancing the understanding of the biosynthesis and metabolism of alkaloids and other chemical compounds present in tobacco plants and processed leaf tobacco. Tso developed new tobacco-growth regulators and a homogenized leaf curing process.  He also promoted the use of tobacco protein for food and medicinal applications.  After the Surgeon General’s report deemed cigarettes a health hazard, Tso directed his energies toward developing a “safer” tobacco. After retiring from the Department of Agriculture in 1984, Tso continued to write and became a consultant for US and foreign governments and the tobacco industry.

His work resulted in over 230 scientific papers published in professional journals. He wrote nine books, edited ten other books, and holds 6 US and 46 foreign patents. T.C. was elected as a Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science, member Phytochemical Society of North America, member Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and was listed in “Who’s Who in the World”, and “Who’s Who in America.”
His awards and honors included the USDA Superior Service Award, the USDA Distinguished Service Award, and the first CORESTA Prize by International Cooperation for Scientific Research Relative to Tobacco. T. C. was appointment by President Jimmy Carter as Charter Member of the US Senior Executive Service, elected as Honorary Fellow of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. In 1984, President Ronald Reagan recognized T.C. with the Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Executive in the Senior Executive Service in the United States. In 1993, he received the very first Friendship Award for International Cooperation from China honoring a foreign scientist on scientific and technological cooperation.

He earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Nanking, China; and received his PhD from Penn State.

Services were held at Berwyn Baptist Church with interment private.

Tso is survived by his wife of 63 years, Margaret Yu-Yi Lu. They have a medical oriented family. Daughter Betty Tso, M.D. is a professor and practicing emergency medicine physician at the University of Maryland; son Paul, M.D. teaches and practices organ transplant at the Emory University; and daughter-in-law, Denise Miller, is a Nurse Practitioner. Tso also leaves behind two grandchildren, Emily and Andrew Tso of Atlanta. He also leaves a sister Hsing Hua of Hubei, China, where Tso was born.

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