Hugo Rogers Obituary

Dr. Hugo Homer Rogers, Jr., left on his trip to meet our Heavenly Father on Wednesday, July 20, 2022. He was born in Perdido, Alabama in 1947, to Hugo Homer Rogers, Sr., a lifetime railroader, and Katherine Brantley Rogers, a homemaker who raised five children. His vision for himself and others made his life full and an inspiration. Dr. Rogers attended Faulkner State Community College before departing for Auburn University in 1967. There he met his beloved wife, Crystal Harmon Rogers, co-founded the Auburn chapter of FarmHouse fraternity where he made lifelong friends, served the Masonic Lodge of Auburn #76, faithfully attended Auburn United Methodist Church, raised two children, and had a long career in science. Dr. Rogers retired as a Plant Physiologist for Global Change at the National Soil Dynamics Laboratory after 35 years of service with USDA–ARS. He received a B.S. in Botany (1969, honors), an M.S. in Plant Physiology (1971) from Auburn University, and a Ph.D. in Environmental Science and Engineering from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ( (1975), where he worked in the laboratory of Dr. Lyman Alonzo Ripperton. Dr. Rogers authored or co-authored nearly 200 publications, with his work appearing in prestigious journals including Science and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), generating thousands of citations. He was a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and ARS Scientist of the Year in 1993. Hugo was preceded in death by his parents and sister, Rosemary Rogers, and leaves bereft his wife and two children, Dr. Hannah Star Rogers and Hiram Harmon Rogers. He also leaves in sorrow his three siblings. He is survived by his brothers Tolbert Rogers of Saraland, Alabama, and Norman Rogers of Atmore, Alabama, along with his wife Sheila Rogers and their two children Spencer Rogers and Austin Rogers, as well as two great-nieces Harper Rogers and Anna Brantley Smith. He is also survived by his sister Barbara Rogers McCoy of Nokomis, Alabama, and her son Ross McCoy and daughter Katherine "Khaki" McCoy, along with her three children, Tyler Bell and Lucas Bell, and Emily Bell. Hugo's hallmarks were persistence and preparation, as he believed that fortune favored the prepared and in the limitless power of God to help us navigate the universe. We are unable to give summation to his life, well-lived.