To many in his field of genetics, Pete Snustad was known as the co-author of "Principles of Genetics," a primary college textbook used by tens of thousands of students worldwide and now in its sixth edition. But to the thousands of students who took his classes at the University of Minnesota over the years, he was simply a darn good teacher.
"I was at the U, studying engineering and a number of my friends had taken Dad's genetics course," said Snustad's son, Eric, now a Minneapolis attorney. "One of my friends failed his class, and he said: 'He was a great teacher. I deserved to fail.' "
Pete Snustad, 74, who retired from the U in 2009, died Nov. 26 after battling bile duct cancer.
A hardworking Norwegian who grew up on a farm outside Bemidji, Snustad attended Bemidji State University for a year before finishing his undergraduate education at the U. He went on to earn his master's and doctorate at the University of California, Davis. He taught genetics at Minnesota for 43 years, said his wife, Judy. An avid lover of the outdoors, of fishing and hunting and of his family farm near Bemidji, Snustad wasn't one to let cancer slow him.
While receiving chemotherapy last summer, he helped a friend near his farm re-roof his house.
"He was such a fighter," his wife said.
At a time when college professors focus much of their energies on research, Eric Snustad said, his father, an accomplished researcher, loved to teach.
"One of his longtime friends from UC Davis came and visited in the last couple of days," his son said. "And he told Dad, 'You worked harder than 99.9 percent of the professors at the U — and you were always driven to be a phenomenal teacher. And, on top of that, you did your book.'"
