John David Imsande, an Iowa State University professor emeritus of agronomy and genetics, development and cell biology, died Jan. 3, 2017, in Ames. A service honoring Imsande’s life was held on Jan. 7, 2017, at Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Ames.

Born on June 14, 1931, in Grass Range, Mont., Imsande earned his bachelor of arts in education and math from the University of Montana, his master of science in chemistry from Montana State University, and his Ph.D. in biochemistry from Duke University.

Imsande began his career at ISU as an associate professor of genetics and biochemistry in 1969. The main goals of his research were to understand the soybean plant controls nodulation and nitrogen fixation; how rapid N2 fixation during pod fill stimilates photosyntetic efficiency; how the plant controls seed protein quality and concentration; and how sulfur nutrition influences seed protein composition.