Rest In Peace Millard Murdock

[KarenO]

https://m.legacy.com/obituaries/blue...4&preview=True

Many here at Tomatoville will remember him well. He left behind a wonderful gift of amazing tomatoes.
With my respect and admiration I wish you peace Mr. Murdock.
KarenO

[seaeagle]

I did a quick search and he is responsible for Captain Lucky, Abraham Brown, D.B. Cooper, Angel Heart tomatoes and probably more. RIP


Edit; Serendipity tomato also

[Gardenboy]

What was his screen name on Tomatoville?

[KarenO]

His screen name used here and in other forums was ” Winterfly”
Not active here for a number of years.
There are numerous tomatoes to his credit, some of the better known ones are of course captain lucky, along with first mate, black mamba, muddy mamba, General Lee, Rosella, serendipity, captain lucky white, to name just a few of the better known ones. There are numerous others.
A member here has collected all of his varieties, I will mention this post to her and perhaps she will tell more about all of the varieties that are Mr. Murdock’s.

KarenO

[tomatoaddict]

So sad to hear this. I’ve always had so much respect for his work. A real loss. He will be sadly missed. RIP.

[Americangrams]

I reached out to Mr.Murdock more than a year ago. He had not been active in the groups, on Facebook nor was he breeding or really growing tomatoes anymore. He had lost most all of his seeds but most graciously sent me some of his original Captain Lucky seeds to grow out. I promised him fresh seeds in return. What he didn’t know, at that time, was that I had been researching and collecting other varieties known to have some connection to him. Either bred by or stabilized by him. My intention was to return as much of his collection as I could find to him. At first he probably was mistrustful of me and my intentions, yet he did send me his precious seeds for which I feel most honored. But over time we established a friendship, as he watched my progress this past summer growing many of his tomatoes, he got excited if I had the correct one, and would promptly tell me if I did not. He became more engaged with the process of me finding the ones that were eluding me. Have you found this one, or that one he would say. When I finally got in my possession two of his original seeds of Angel Heart, which he had been asking about, he said...”oh that one is a beauty alright, but not much on taste”. That was hilarious Mr. Murdock. Another one that I tracked down he told me that it originally had a different name but his friend who loved the tomato couldn’t pronounce it, so he changed the name just for him. So if you have a Spruce Goose in your collection, please let me know. I feel so privileged to have gotten to know Mr. Murdock. I will miss our talks. As I was preparing this year’s seeds to mail to him, he messaged me to wait because he was in hospital. Just wait til I’m back home he said. But he never made it there. But to answer Karen’s question, off of the top of my head, some varieties attributed to Millard are: Captain Lucky, Captain Lucky White, Sandburg, Serendipity, Rozella, DB Cooper, Black Mamba, Black Magic, Muddy Mamba, Esmeralda Paste, Martha Logan, Sweet Linda, Sweet as Linda, Abraham Green, Abraham Brown, Georgia Green and Georgia Brown. I haven’t found Georgia brown, if you have it, please let me know. Stutzman Black, General Lee, First Mate and Firstmate bicolor. I think that’s all that I can remember without looking at my notes. Oh, and Angel Heart. Millard’s contributions to the tomato world are tremendous, I will continue curating the collection, even though I will not get to send it to him. Rest In Peace dear Mr. Murdock

[Americangrams]

And a big thank you to Karen and Terry for helping me track down some of these varieties, and for sharing from their personal collections.

[Tormato]

I'm sorry to hear of Millard's passing.



I tried for several years to locate him, as the original seeds that eventually became Angel Heart were from me. I have no idea if the variety is yet stable, or how it tastes. I still have some of that original seed, which I hope will germinate next year.

[ddsack]

Karen, thank you for starting this thread. And thank you Americangrams for telling us about your friendship with Mr. Murdock. I'm so glad you had a chance to get to know him as well as try to gather and save his varieties. I've only had a chance to grow the Captain Lucky, First Mate and Captain Lucky White so far. Happy to see your list of his other tomatoes. I hope they can eventually be spread more widely so that we don't forget this caring and sharing gentleman.

[seaeagle]

Originally Posted by Tormato

I'm sorry to hear of Millard's passing.



I tried for several years to locate him, as the original seeds that eventually became Angel Heart were from me. I have no idea if the variety is yet stable, or how it tastes. I still have some of that original seed, which I hope will germinate next year.

Angel Heart is someone's favorite tomato


This was my favorite tomato this past summer. Large and meaty, these powerhouses produced an abundance of fruit with very few seeds. Angel Heart is perfect for colorful salsas and sauces. If my calculations are correct, these seeds would be F5 or F6. Artisan bred by Millard Murdock in North Carolina


https://gemsandstems.ecrater.com/p/1...l-heart-tomato

[Americangrams]

Originally Posted by ddsack

Karen, thank you for starting this thread. And thank you Americangrams for telling us about your friendship with Mr. Murdock. I'm so glad you had a chance to get to know him as well as try to gather and save his varieties. I've only had a chance to grow the Captain Lucky, First Mate and Captain Lucky White so far. Happy to see your list of his other tomatoes. I hope they can eventually be spread more widely so that we don't forget this caring and sharing gentleman.

Thank you ddsack. My goal this year was to have him verify that I had the correct versions, some varieties out there are wrong. I along with some others, will definitely be growing these out to make sure that more people have access to these wonderful varieties. Teresa

[Americangrams]

Originally Posted by seaeagle

Angel Heart is someone's favorite tomato


This was my favorite tomato this past summer. Large and meaty, these powerhouses produced an abundance of fruit with very few seeds. Angel Heart is perfect for colorful salsas and sauces. If my calculations are correct, these seeds would be F5 or F6. Artisan bred by Millard Murdock in North Carolina


https://gemsandstems.ecrater.com/p/1...l-heart-tomato

I tried to purchase those seeds from the link you suggested, but they are no longer in business. It took many people and some time to track down two seeds. They are from Millard’s original offer on this site. I hope they germinate. I would be happy to trade for some of yours just in case they do not. Teresa

[bower]

Americangrams, I really appreciate you sharing your story, and the project itself which surely made a difference to MM in his final years. I'm so glad you did that, not only for the seeds you've collected but more especially, for the enjoyment I'm sure he had, in seeing you take the care to do so.

[Americangrams]

Originally Posted by bower

Americangrams, I really appreciate you sharing your story, and the project itself which surely made a difference to MM in his final years. I'm so glad you did that, not only for the seeds you've collected but more especially, for the enjoyment I'm sure he had, in seeing you take the care to do so.

Thank you very much for your kind words. I think he did enjoy talking about tomatoes again.

[seaeagle]

Originally Posted by Americangrams

I tried to purchase those seeds from the link you suggested, but they are no longer in business. It took many people and some time to track down two seeds. They are from Millard’s original offer on this site. I hope they germinate. I would be happy to trade for some of yours just in case they do not. Teresa

I am sorry but I do not have the seeds or have I ever grown them. I just copied and pasted the description from the website. I will investigate further to see if I can locate this seller. Only clue is that the seller is from Wisconsin.