Dr. Neil Odenwald, 1935-2021

There are two types of teachers in the world: the ones who teach in a classroom, and the ones who live life with a particular grace that others can’t help but emulate. Sometimes, rarely, a person is both. 

Dr. Neil Odenwald, Professor Emeritus and former Director of the Louisiana State University Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture, deeply impacted his field with his extensive knowledge and passion for landscape architecture and horticulture. But Odenwald leaves behind a legacy that goes well beyond his technical expertise. 

“I didn’t ever actually take a class from him, but yes, I was a student of his,” said Greg Grant, who worked with Dr. Odenwald during his time teaching at LSU’s Department of Horticulture. “He’s one of those people who was a teacher and a mentor to just about everyone who made contact with him.”

[Read an interview Country Roads conducted with Dr. Neil Odenwald in 2018 here.]

In his profession, Dr. Odenwald was a true Renaissance man. “Horticulturists are famous for being great with plants and terrible with design, and landscape architects are famous for being great with design, and bad with plants,” explained Grant, who now works as the Smith County horticulturist for the Texas A&M Agrilife Extension Service. “Dr. Odenwald was one of those few people who was an outstanding landscape architect and an outstanding horticulturist. So much so, that the plant materials classes were moved from the horticulture department to landscape architecture. Well, that’s ‘cause the head of the landscape architecture department at LSU was also the best horticulturist.”

“I didn’t ever actually take a class from him, but yes, I was a student of his,” said Greg Grant, who worked with Dr. Odenwald during his time teaching at LSU’s Department of Horticulture. “He’s one of those people who was a teacher and a mentor to just about everyone who made contact with him.”

Outside of the classroom, Dr. Odenwald was an esteemed pillar of the plant community. An instrumental figure in the Southern Garden Symposium, he went out of his way to draw top-notch speakers each year and had a knack for seeking out those who shared his fervor for growing things. 

“If he was teaching you about a specific plant—say he was going through the particular merits of a plant in the garden—it wasn’t just, ‘Okay, here’s a picture of this plant, and it’s very good in a garden because it has a very fragrant flower,’” explained Tracey Banowetz, friend of Dr. Odenwald and former President of the symposium. “He would tell you something like, ‘Oh my goodness! You put that flower in your bosom, and you’re going to smell good all day long!’ It would create a mental picture in your mind, it would make you laugh, and it was just the way he related to plants. It was that sort of thing that made him such a good teacher, and that sort of thing that he looked for in speakers of the symposium.”

Aside from his three decades at LSU and his contributions to the Southern Garden Symposium, Dr. Odenwald took on the leadership of countless organizations and efforts across the region and accrued a plethora accolades in his field. “He found ways to work through organizations to get changes done, and his being the head of the landscape architecture department gave him opportunities,” explained Dr. William Welch, a professor and horticulturist at the Texas AgriLife Extension Service at Texas A&M and a friend of Dr. Odenwald’s. “I don’t know much more than to say his life made a big difference. And, I think it’ll continue to influence people.”

“I don’t know much more than to say his life made a big difference. And, I think it’ll continue to influence people.”

Dr. Odenwald, who served as a member of the Hilltop Arboretum board, was a key figure in the donation of Hilltop to LSU. In 2015, he was honored with the establishment of the Neil G. Odenwald Distinguished Professorship at LSU, which will carry on his legacy by recruiting and retaining outstanding faculty at the Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture, who are “focused on instruction in plant materials, planting design, ecology, and natural systems”. He was also awarded a Medal of Honor from the Garden Clubs of America, and was a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Throughout his life, Dr. Odenwald served as President of the John James Audubon Foundation, as Chairman of Landscape Design Schools for the National Council of State Garden Clubs, and as a consultant on the Time-Life plant materials publications. He has authored several notable publications on gardening and landscape architecture, and was involved in the restoration and preservation of  historical gardens across the region, including Afton Villa Gardens, Bocage Plantation, Biedenharn, Melrose Plantation, LongVue Garden, New Orleans City Park, and Rosedown Gardens—to name a few. 

Perhaps, though, his most lasting legacy will be the way he inspired others. 

“There’s something I’ve tried to do for a lot of my life, and I’ve failed miserably,” explained Banowetz with a cracked voice. “And that is a concept my husband and I call ‘living with grace’. It’s hard to explain exactly what I mean, but it’s a bit self-explanatory. And, Neil did that. Every aspect of his life, he lived with grace. He was kind. You’d never hear an ugly word past his lips. He had a faith in God, and he just had a lot of life, you know. And it was natural—it just came to him so naturally. The way he lived his life was something to aspire to.”