Remembering Dr. Jeff Higgins

Longtime and beloved industry professional Dr. Jeff Higgins died unexpectedly on Friday, April 8.

Higgins was a passionate scientist and business leader who loved people, golf and the outdoors. Professionally, although he handled many roles, he was foremost an educator who helped generations of golf course superintendents and other professional turfgrass managers succeed through science and good management practices.

For 35 years, Higgins was an industry leader in developing and marketing fertilizer and plant health technologies for golf courses, sports fields and other professional turfgrass uses. He spent the past decade guiding business development for a pair of major distributors. Most recently, Higgins worked at Simplot Turf and Horticulture, where he created and led a team of more than 60 employees and oversaw the company’s turf expansion into the Southeast and beyond. Before joining Simplot, Higgins served as vice president and directed national account partnerships and strategy for Harrell’s LLC. Customers will remember him as a brilliant scientist who was a trusted advisor and a wonderful communicator regarding the complex world of agronomy.

Throughout his career, Higgins was most closely involved in the specialty fertilizer business where he served for a decade as an executive with Pursell Technologies (later Agrium Advanced Technologies). While he was with Pursell and Agrium, he helped lead the development and commercialization of turf nutrition programs using the POLYON fertilizer technology. He became widely recognized as one of the nation’s leading authorities on turfgrass fertilizer technologies.

He was best known at that time for helping to create and host an educational tour of the Pursell manufacturing facilities, along with the golf course the company built to showcase its products and technologies. The tour called The Experience at FarmLinks, educated and entertained several thousand golf superintendents and other customers over the years.

Higgins earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Auburn University in agronomy, pest management and plant protection. He also earned a Ph.D. in agronomy from Clemson University. He served as an extension turfgrass specialist at Auburn and as an adjunct professor at Kansas State University. Earlier in his career, he held positions with leading companies, including Southern Turf Nurseries, Pennington Seed and ValleyCrest Golf Maintenance. He also worked at Monsanto to help develop, commercialize and launch Dimension turf herbicide. Higgins served on several committees of the GCSAA and was a member of numerous other groups, including the NGCOA, GCBAA, the International Turfgrass Society, the American Society of Agronomy, the American Society of Horticultural Science, the American Registry of Certified Professional Agronomists and the American Registry of Certified Professional Weed Scientists.

Born on June 29, 1959, Higgins was the third son of the late Harold (Bunk) and Mary Louise Higgins. He is survived by his wife, Stacy Higgins, children Halle and Carter Ridgeway, and brothers Dan (Jo Ellen) Higgins and Ernie (Claire) Higgins.