FMCA Annual Awards
There is a total of six FMCA Annual Awards and a Presidential Citation awarded. Any Florida Mosquito Control Association member in good standing may nominate a candidate for any of the FMCA Annual Awards by submitting to the Awards Committee a short biographical sketch, an appraisal of the nominee’s accomplishments that are related to the award, and explain why the candidate is deemed worthy of the award. You may submit your nomination by clicking HERE. Endorsements and written support from other colleagues are encouraged and all submissions will be acknowledged. Nominations may be submitted online, by fax, email, or US mail.
For more information or questions contact: Sherry Burroughs, [email protected]
Maurice W. Provost Memorial Award (established 1987)
Honors persons who have made outstanding contributions to mosquito control and/or biting fly biology in Florida.
The Maurice W. Provost Memorial Award is a memorial to the first Director of the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory. Candidates must have been instrumental in each of the following areas: developing sound management and operational methods to reduce pesticide levels and to minimize habitat alteration while reducing mosquito populations; increasing our knowledge of mosquitoes and other biting insects and their habitats; and educating students and the general public about the importance of various environmental issues facing the citizens in protecting the fauna and flora in Florida. The candidate should be an FMCA member and have made significant contributions to the Association.
More about Maurice W. Provost (1914 – 1977)
Dr. Maurice W. Provost was an eminent scientist whose research on mosquitoes and wetland ecology established the foundation for the development and implementation of environmentally friendly and effective management programs for mosquitoes and mosquito-borne diseases in Florida. He was a devoted scholar with a great enthusiasm for entomology, ecology, aquatic biology, ornithology, conservation, and statistics and was in constant demand as a consultant and speaker. Dr. Provost served on numerous prestigious committees of such organizations as the National Academy of Sciences, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health. In addition to being highly regarded internationally as a leading scientist working with mosquitoes, he was recognized as an excellent administrator.
Dr. Provost was born and raised in New Hampshire, and worked for the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department after receiving his B.S. degree from St. Anselm College in 1935. He earned an M.S. in vertebrate zoology from the University of New Hampshire in 1940 and moved to Florida at the request of the Florida State Board of Health in 1942. He left Florida to study Economic Zoology at Iowa State University and completed his Ph.D. in 1947. He was subsequently assigned to the U. S. Public Health Service, Malaria Control in War Areas Program where he served as an area supervisor and State Entomologist. After completing this assignment, he accepted a full time position with the Florida State Board of Health to direct research on mosquito biology and control. He planned and organized the construction and staffing of the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory at Vero Beach and served as its first director from 1954 until 1977. In this role, Dr. Provost led development of Florida’s first comprehensive medical entomology research program.
Dr. Provost received many awards and contributed to a variety of institutions during his very productive career. He was given the Governor’s Conservation Award (1970), FloridaEntomological Society Annual Certificate of Appreciation (1971) and Entomologist of the Year Award (1975), American Mosquito Control Association Award for Distinguished Contributions to Mosquito Control (1972), and Florida Audubon Society Special Award (1974). He served as president of the Florida Anti-Mosquito Association (1955), the Entomological Society of America delegate to the International Congress of Entomology in Moscow (1968), a member of the Florida Parks Advisory Council (1969-1970), a member of the National Academy of Sciences Public Health Study Team for An Assessment of Pest Control Technologies (1974-1975), and chairman of the Editorial Board of Mosquito News until 1977.
Previous Winners of the Maurice W. Provost Memorial Award
1987 — Jack Salmela
1988 — Eric T Nielson
1989 — William L Bidlingmayer
1990 — Carlisle B Rathburn
1991 — James S Haegar
1994 — E John Beidler
1995 — John R Linley – posthumous
2001 — Jorge R Rey
2003 — James W Robinson
2007 — George F. O’Meara
2018 — Jonathan Day
Joseph Y. Porter Distinguished Achievement Award (established 1989)
Recognizes Scientists who have made significant contributions to entomology, with special emphasis on the abatement of arthropods of public health importance.
The Joseph Y Porter Distinguished Achievement Award honors the first President of the Florida Anti-Mosquito Association and first State Health Officer of Florida. Candidates must have meritoriously contributed to the advancement of entomology research in the field of mosquito and/or other biting arthropod control in the State of Florida. The candidate should be an FMCA member and have made significant contributions to the Association.
More about Joseph Y. Porter (1847 – 1927)
from Rerick’s Memoirs of Florida Vol. 2 (1902)
Joseph Yates Porter, M.D., State Health Officer of Florida, was born in Key West, October 21, 1847. His father, who bore the same name, was a native of Charleston, S. C., and while a young man located at Key West and was married there in 1845 to Miss Mary Simms Randolph. He died at about the age of thirty, and two weeks before his son was born. Dr. Porter’s mother died when he was twelve years of age. His paternal grandfather was Willliam L. Porter, originally from Boston, Mass., who made his home at Charleston, S. C. His maternal grandfather was Capt. Thomas Mann Randolph, an officer in the United States Navy, who died of yellow fever in Key West in 1835, at the age of thirty-seven years, being at the time in command of the United States revenue cutter “Washington.” He was a Virginian by birth and a member of the Randolph family of that state.
Dr. Porter was graduated from the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia in the year 1870. Returning home he was shortly afterward appointed acting assistant-surgeon in the United States Army and sent to Fort Jefferson. He spent three and a half years at that post, and while there had charge of an epidemic of yellow fever which prevailed in 1873. In June, 1875, after passing a successful examination in New York, he was appointed assistant-surgeon in the United States Navy with the rank of first lieutenant. Five years later he was promoted to the rank of Captain, and was altogether in the United States service for nineteen years, during which time he was stationed at Tortugas, Key West, Tampa, Miami, and in the state of Texas.
He finally retired from the Navy and in 1889 was made State Health Officer of Florida, a position he has held ever since. The duties of his office, made such demands upon his time that he was obliged to abstain from general practice entirely. While he has maintained his residence at Key West, his official duties caused him to be absent about the State much of the time.
By reason of the large experience he has had with yellow fever, Dr. Porter has become an authority in the treatment of that dread disease, and is recognized as such in everything relating thereto. He has passed through various yellow fever epidemics in his home city and elsewhere. Prior to the establishment of the State Board of Health and the creation of the office of State Health Officer in 1889, the yellow fever epidemics in Florida were of frequent occurrence: but since that date there has been but one epidemic in the state, that of 1899. It would be impossible to render a greater service to humanity than to find a means of preventing or even of checking this terrible scourge of the race. That Dr. Porter has done somewhat in this direction entitles him to the earnest thanks of the people of his section, and this is heartily accorded him. During the yellow fever epidemic at Jacksonville in 1888, he was the surgeon in charge of the United States government relief meausres, and in recognition of his services the State Legislature honored him with a vote of thanks. In 1887 he passed through the epidemics of yellow fever both in Key West and Tampa. In 1900 he was elected a member of the Florida Legislature from Monroe county.
His marriage to Miss Louise, daughter of William Curry, a merchant of Key West, occurred June 1, 1870. They had four children: William R., insurance agent; Mary Louise, wife of Hon. W. Hunt Harris, state senator from Monroe county; Roberta, wife of W.W. Mountjoy, of New York city; and Joseph Yates, Jr., a student at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York city.
Reference: The Herald, Miami, Florida, March 1927
Dr. Porter, dying in the very room in which he was born, and living always in the house where he was born, and where he grew from babyhood, to boyhood, and to manhood, he was always a center around which the interest of his community and finally of his state, gathered. Genial, courteous, gallant and efficient, Dr. Porter was a marked figure and well earned the respect, confidence and love of the state for which he had done so much. Dr. Porter was in his eightieth year, a full rounded out four score years, all of them filled with thought and labor for his fellow men.
Previous Winners of the Joseph Y Porter Distinguished Achievement Award
1989 — Flora Mae Wellings
1990 — Andrew J Rogers
1991 — B W Clements, Jr
1994 — Donald E Weidhaas
1996 — Elisabeth C Beck
1999 — George F O’Meara
2000 — John Mulrennan, Jr
2001 — David Dame
2002 — James C Dukes
2005 — Jonathan F Day
2014 — Donald Shroyer
2015 — Daniel Kline
2017 — L. Phillip Lounibos
2018 — Lawrence Hribar
The Fred Stutz Memorial Award (established 1994)
Recognizes an outstanding contribution to mosquito control by development of procedures that increase effectiveness in mosquito or other arthropod control, or the design and manufacture of equipment that helped revolutionize the control of mosquitoes and/or other arthropods of public health importance.
The Fred Stutz Memorial Award honors the former director of the Dade County Mosquito Control office. The Award is based on whether the procedures developed have been adopted and employed throughout Florida as part of standard operating procedure. The candidate should be an FMCA member and have made significant contributions to the Association.
More about Fred Stutz (1899-1987)
For 30 years Fred Stutz was Director of Dade County Mosquito Control, which he started in 1935 to drastically cut the mosquito populations within the county. He also pioneered efforts to control mosquitoes with aerial spraying. In 1956 he was elected President of the American Mosquito Control Association at the group’s convention in Beaumont, Texas.
Previous Winners of the Fred Stutz Memorial Award
1994 — Paul J Hunt
1995 — T Wayne Miller
1996 — James W Robinson
2003 — Donald H Hogan
2006 — William R Opp
2010 — Edsel Fussell
2014 — Allen Wooldridge
2018 — T. Wayne Gale
2019 — Candace Royals
2020 — Mark Latham
The FMCA Merit Award (established 1997)
Recognizes outstanding individual contributions in promoting control of disease-transmitting and pestiferous mosquitoes or other arthropods of public health importance, for scientific advancement of the discipline, or for developing or extending the public interest in the control of such mosquitoes or other arthropods.
The FMCA Merit Award was established for Candidates who represent those characteristics generally associated with responsible leadership, good citizenship and personal integrity. The candidate should be an FMCA member and have made significant contributions to the Association.
Previous Winners of the FMCA Merit Award
1997 — Charlie Morris
1998 — Richard Baker
1998 — Pete Pederson
1999 — Fred Harden
1999 — Cari Roth
2004 — Michael Greer
2009 — Kim Feagley
2001 — Thomas Loyless
2001 — Dennis Moore
2002 — E John Beidler
2002 — Edwin W Irby
2003 — Shelly Redovan
2004 — Daniel L Kline
2004 — Carlton Layne
2005 — L Philip Lounibos
2006 — James E Cilek
2007 — Richard Darsie
2007 — Jonas Stewart
2008 — Alan Curtis
2008 — Thomas Floore
2009 — George Heinlein
2010 — Brian Murphy
2010 — Neil Wilkinson
2011 — not awarded
2012 — Walter Tabachnick
2012 — Angela Weeks-Samanie
2012 — Lillian Stark
2012 — Flo Jones
2013 — James Burgess
2013 — Doug Carlson
2014 — Rui-de Xue
2015 — Jack Petersen
2018 — Roxanne Connelly and Aaron Lloyd
2019 — Richard Weaver
2020 — Jason Stuck
2021 — Kay Marcia Gaines
2022 — Jillian Meek, Rebecca Heining & Shelley Whitehead
The Sherrie Yarberry Award (established 1998)
Recognizes continued outstanding contributions to operational program activities by veteran, non-administrative personnel of Florida mosquito control related agencies.
The Sherrie Yarberry Award is named for a dedicated employee of the Jacksonville Mosquito Control office. Candidates must demonstrate exemplary performance resulting in enhanced unit efficiency or public recognition of excellence of the parent organization. The recipient of the Sherrie Yarberry Award will receive $500 cash, a commemorative certificate, and funding to attend the FMCA Annual Fall Meeting.
More about Sherrie Yarberry (1945-1997)
Sherrie S. Yarberry was a native of West Palm Beach, Florida, and a longtime resident of Jacksonville, Florida. She was an Inspector with 14 years service for the City of Jacksonville Mosquito Control.
Previous Winners of the Sherrie Yarberry Award
1998 — Theresa Sewar
1999 — not awarded
2000 — William Cleghorn
2001 — Byron Reaves
2003 — Micheal Sherman
2005 — Eddie Hersey
2006 — Jack French
2007 — Michael A. Nichols
2008 — Morel Jules
2009 — Rene Snow
2011 — Skip Valdez
2012 — Martin West
2013 — Caleb Baumgartner
2014 — Jarod Lloyd
2015 — Joseph Aguila
2016 — Karen St. Pierre
2017 — Daniel Hood
2022 — Darrin Perkins
The James W Robinson Memorial Award (established 2005)
Recognizes innovation and ingenuity in optimizing the safe and efficient operations of Florida public health pest control programs.
The James W Robinson Memorial Award was established in 2005 as a memorial to Jim Robinson, Director of the Pasco County Mosquito Control District, who was renowned for his innovative development of new equipment and adoption of new technologies. Candidates must have contributed an outstanding improvement to existing equipment or currently employed techniques used by a non-commercial mosquito control related agency. This advancement may not be proprietary in nature, and must be freely shared with the Association.
More about James W. “Jim” Robinson (1944-2004)
James W. “Jim” Robinson was hired as an entomologist by the Pasco County Mosquito Control District in Florida in August, 1971, and was appointed Director in April, 1974. Jim served as director for the past 30 years until his retirement in March, 2004.
Born April 10, 1944, James Robinson was a member and past president of the Florida Mosquito Control Association as well as a member of the American Mosquito Control Association. He attended Pennsylvania State University and received a bachelor of science degree from Juniata College in 1969. In 1971, he earned his master’s degree from Rutgers University. Mr. Robinson was honored by Pasco County by the naming of the mosquito control facility after him. The James W. Robinson Pasco County Mosquito Control Facility was dedicated November 2001. Additionally, Mr. Robinson received the following honors: Florida Mosquito Control’s high honor of the Maurice W. Provost Memorial Award for recognition of his outstanding contribution in the field of mosquito control in November 2003; the Fred Stutz Memorial Award (the Florida Mosquito Control Association’s highest award for operational achievements) in 1996; the American Mosquito Control Association Meritorious Service Award in February 2004; the Presidential Citation from the American Mosquito Control Association in 1994.
Previous Winners of the James W Robinson Memorial Award
2005 — Art Hodous
2006 — James Mason
2008 — James Wynn
2009 — Wayne Daniels
2012 — Mike Smith
2013 — Eugene R. Sutton
2014 — John Plate
2015 — Kurt Joseph and Richard Heiser
2016 — Jerry Musgrave
2017 — Malcolm Williams
2018 — Bruce Stevens and Chris Law
2019 — Justin Baker and Cason Bartz
2020 — Scott Artman
2022 — CJ McCutcheon & John Brookfield
Presidential Citation
The President of FMCA may award this to deserving individuals at his/her discretion.
Previous Winners of the Presidential Citation
2001 Dennis Moore
2005 Mark Latham
2005 Dr. Gordon Patterson
2007 Pam Jacobson
2008 Roxanne Connelly
2009 Stephen Sickerman
2010 Stephen Sickerman
2011 Mark Latham
2011 Shelly Redovan & Lee County MCD
2012 Roxanne Connelly
2012 Shelly Redovan
2013 Christopher Lyon
2014 Richard Smith
2014 Chris Lesser
2016 Gregory Ross
2017 Aaron Lloyd
2017 Jeanne Moeller
2018 George T Mann Jr.
2019 Sue Bartlett
2020 Diane Richards
2021 Karen Crawford
2022 Dennis Moore & Angie Wellman
