It is with sadness that we note the recent death of Frank Ellison on 12 September, 2002.

Frank had a long association with the University of Sydney Plant Breeding Institute, especially the Narrabri site. He received his BScAgr in 1967, gaining honors, and began postgraduate research in association with N.F. Derera at Narrabri, being awarded his MScAgr in 1971, and PhD in 1977. Frank was appointed Assistant Wheat Breeder in 1975. He undertook postdoctoral research in wheat breeding at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, in 1976 and 1977, before appointment as Plant Breeder in 1978. He was promoted to Senior Wheat Breeder in 1988. Frank was Acting Director of PBI Narrabri from March 2001, and was a leading member of the SunPrime wheat breeding business, as Principal Wheat Breeder.

Frank's breeding efforts were particularly directed at the release of Prime Hard wheats for northern New South Wales and Queensland, with more recent expansion into other market classes and areas. Frank was initially an important, and then leading, member of the wheat breeding team that included N.F. Derera, G.M. Bhatt, R. Trethowan, D.R. Marshall, L. O'Brien, S. Moore, and recently, M.Q. Lu. He had strong interactions with the PBI cereal rust program at Castle Hill and later, Cobbitty, with R.A. McIntosh, J. Gyarfas, T.T. The, H. Bariana and G. Brown. Frank also had strong research collaborations with L. Burgess on cereal Fusarium crown rot and yellow spot problems, and with D. Mares on breeding for preharvest sprouting tolerance. Most of these collaborators are named with Frank in the joint release of wheat cultivars. Frank's wheat cultivars are: Sunkota, Shortim, Suneca, Sunstar, Sundor, Sunbird, Sunelg, Sunco, Sunfield, Miskle, Sunbri, Sunmist, Sunstate, Sunland, Sunvale, Sunbrook, Sunlin, Sunsoft 98, Braewood, and Marombi. These cultivars continue to occupy, a significant proportion of the target growing area, and represent a major component of the Prime Hard production of Australia. They also have a significant role in the export marketing of Australian wheat, especially to the higher return premium markets, for bread production, and for yellow alkaline noodles for Asia. Frank also assisted the efforts of N. Darvey and R. Jessop (University of New England, Armidale, N.S.W) in the development of triticale cultivars, Ningadhu, Samson, Bejon, Madonna and Maiden. In the interactions of the program with the wheat research community Frank collaborated closely with the staff of the Bread Research Institute of Australia, and the CSIRO Grain Quality Research Laboratory.

Frank will be remembered for his service to the farming community and for his outgoing personality and devilish sense of humor.

Frank was married to Annie and they had two sons, Michael and Shaun.