Obituary of Michael Rhodes

Michael Ross Rhodes passed away peacefully at home June 11, 2014 after a difficult battle with cancer. His kind and warm hearted presence will be greatly missed.Michael was born November 5, 1950 in San Francisco CA to Roy and Josephine (Crane) Rhodes. Raised in San Francisco, he graduated from Saint Ignatius High School in 1968. He served 3 years 1969-1972 in the Army with the 82nd Airborne. On November 28, 1975 he married Lois Ann Andersen at Lake Tahoe NV. He and Lois and their son Peter moved to Eugene in 1978.He graduated from University of Oregon in 1988 with a BS in organic chemistry.Michael began his working life at horticultural nurseries. First at Roger Reynolds Nursery in Menlo Park CA and then Woodruff Nursery in Eugene OR. After graduating from the UO, he worked for one year in a chemistry lab on campus before starting a 23 year career as an organic chemist at Molecular Probes (Invitrogen, Life Technologies). He retired in 2013.He loved the outdoors and was happiest camping, hiking, skiing and cycling with family and friends. He traveled with Lois to various scuba diving sites such as Great Barrier Reef, Bonaire, Cozumel and the Grand Caymans. Michael was a member of the Emerald Photographic Society and enjoyed landscape and abstract photography.Other hobbies included traveling and gardening. With his extensive horticultural knowledge he was a walking encyclopedia for plants names.He is survived by his wife of 38 years, Lois Andersen and their son Peter Andersen both of Eugene OR. Also his siblings Roberta Gilson of Sebastopol CA, Kathy Griffin of Mariette GA, Regina Michovich of Meadow Vista CA, Roy Rhodes, Jr. of San Francisco CA; and 2 nephews and 2 nieces.A remembrance will be held July 8, 2014.Arrangements were made by Musgrove Family Mortuary. Please access the obituary and you are invited to sign the guestbook at musgroves.com