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ATA Member Spotlight on
Scott Wanzor PBI Gordon
By Melanie Bonds, ATA Executive Director
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Al ab ama Tu rf Tim e s > >> Su mmer 201 8
ince the time he was five years old, Scott Wanzor knew he wanted to study entomology. How do you decide on your passion so early in life? “When I was five I got a butterfly net for Christmas. My Dad was a cabinet maker, but he was very handson and spent a lot of time with me. He took me outside to inaugurate the butterfly net, and I caught a cabbage white butterfly that Dad showed me how to kill and mount. Since that time I’ve been hooked!” Scott’s collection now fills 38 Cornell drawers (these are standard museum collection boxes, approximately 20 x 16 inches with a glass top). His favorites are the wild silk worm moths. The Luna
moth is an example of this species, but others that fascinate Scott include the Polyphemus, Promethia, the Cecropia and the Sphinx. The Luna was a prize find in the late seventies. The moths are not rare as such, but they have such a short life span that they aren’t frequently seen. Scott says he doesn’t keep the females these days and uses more photography to capture the butterflies and moths. He has a UV light in his back yard to attract them. “I probably have 50 or 60 Polyphemus caterpillars. They get huge. I keep them in a cage until they mate and then I let them go so the females can lay eggs.” Scott attended the State University of New York at Farmingdale where he
Wife, Elizabeth and daughter, Shelby, with Scott 12
earned an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Biological Technology in 1973. He later attended Cornell University where he studied entomology and went on to seal the deal with a Bachelor of Science in Entomology (Cum Laud) in 1976. While Scott always knew he wanted to study entomology, he wasn’t sure how to make a career out of being an entomologist and this led him to do further research on what jobs were available in his field. Once he discovered that chemical companies needed reps, the rest was history. After working at Monsanto Company and later at Aquatrols, Scott found his home at PBI Gordon and has been there for sixteen years now. PBI Gordon was founded in the postwar boom in 1947 in Kansas City. The founders’ strategy was simple. They would capitalize on the needs of companies such as Rohm & Haas, Stauffer, Velsicol, Dow, Montsanto, and DuPont by formulating their basic chemicals, inerts and emulsifiers as private label pesticides for farm co-ops and independent distributors. This proved to be a successful strategy because at the time the chemical companies didn’t have the resources to get all their product into the booming agricultural industry. As one of the first companies to recognize the need for turf solutions designed specifically for golf course superintendents, PBI-Gordon became the licensee in 1968 to combine active ingredients 2,4-D, MCPP and Dicamba. This gave the company the exclusive patent rights to the formulation in the U.S. The company continues to thrive and became 100 percent employeeowned in 2002. Scott has been a manufacturer’s sales representative for 41 years and loves it. “Every single week is different and