DaytonDailyNews.com

BEAVERCREEK — Brother Don Geiger has retired after 44 years of teaching at the University of Dayton, but that doesn't mean the honeysuckle can rest easy.

The 75-year-old emeritus professor will still work to stamp out honeysuckle, garlic mustard and other invasive species to give native plants a chance to recover in the woods at the Mount St. John Nature Preserve in Greene County, where he founded the Marianist Environmental Education Center (MEEC) in 1992.

"See how thick it is," Geiger said, gesturing at a dead patch of honeysuckle undergrowth. "I crawled on my hands and knees to lay out this path. You can't walk through that."

The Dayton native's interest in preservation came, well, naturally. His maternal grandfather was a naturalist, and his mother, an avid gardener, told him stories of hunting hickory nuts in her childhood.

In the 1980s, his study of plant physiology came to the attention of Monsanto, maker of Roundup, which funded his research to make that herbicide more effective in controlling invasive species, as well as weeds in soybean fields. Mount St. John's woods is about 50 percent cleared of invasive plants.

Geiger said he's tried to instill a reverence for creation, and a sense of stewardship at MEEC. In the years after making Mount St. John his home in 1985, he used prairie grasses to restore a gravel pit left by the construction of adjacent Interstate 675.

A Beavercreek Wetlands Association member, Geiger has worked with several local park districts, including Five Rivers MetroParks, on managing land and controlling nonnative species.

"You can't put a dollar value on his passion" for preservation and stewardship," said Cris Barnett, chief naturalist with the Greene County Parks.

Geiger helped create UD's doctorate program in biology. One reward of teaching has been watching his students influence the world while helping and teaching others.

One student, MEEC Director Leanne Jablonski, remembered Geiger as a rigorous yet affirming instructor who recognized students' potential. Citing Geiger's humility, Jablonski said he has largely realized his vision of integrating science with faith.

"It's a privilege to carry on his dream," she said. "Given that Don can still outhike any of us, we hope to be able to walk in his footsteps for many years to come."

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7457 or bsutherly@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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