Norman Borlaug preferred chicken sandwiches over fancy food, would be in his Texas A&M office at 5 a.m. each day and refused help with his heavy luggage, said U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who served as Texas A&M president from 2002-06.
"Norm intensely disliked grandiosity and effusive compliments, but he fully understood the power of his reputation," Gates said on Tuesday during Borlaug's memorial service at Texas A&M. "He regarded himself as an instrument, which he used tirelessly for the benefit of others."
Leaders from as far away as Japan and India came to Texas A&M on Tuesday to memorialize Borlaug, the Nobel Peace Prize winner remembered almost as much for his humility as for his legendary efforts in fighting world hunger.
Gates called Borlaug a "warrior against hunger" during the 11 a.m. service in Rudder Auditorium, attended by about 1,000 people.
"In my current job, I have the opportunity to understand how important Norm's work was and is for the security of this nation, and indeed all nations," Gates said. "Norm said in many different ways that peace cannot be built when hunger persists."
Borlaug -- a Texas A&M distinguished soil and crop sciences professor -- died last month in Dallas at the age of 95. He is credited with saving millions of lives by breeding crops such as wheat and rice and expanding the food supply of the developing world.
Also delivering eulogies were Tom Vilsack, U.S. secretary of agriculture; M.S. Swaminathan, a member of the Indian Parliament; and Yohei Sasakawa, chairman of the humanitarian organization Nippon Foundation.
"His repeated message that there was no time to relax until hunger became history will be heard so long as a single person is denied opportunity for a healthy and productive life because of malnutrition," Swaminathan said during the hour-long service.
A smaller gathering was held at 3 p.m. in Rudder Theatre, where a few dozen of Borlaug's colleagues from around the world spoke for about three minutes each.
A crowd gathered in the Rudder Tower lobby before the memorial service, near a display that held some of Borlaug's most prestigious medals, such as the Nobel, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Medal of Honor.
Daryn Dean drove from Houston with his 6-year-old son, Austin, to attend the service. Borlaug -- who was Dean's wife's great-uncle -- would captivate the family with his tales about the world, Dean said.
Austin pressed his nose against the display case and peered at the Aztec Eagle, an award Borlaug received for introducing high-yielding wheat varieties and modern agricultural-production techniques to Mexico. It's the highest honor awarded to foreigners in Mexico.
"Did people like him?" Austin asked.
His dad smiled. "Very much so," he said. "Wouldn't you, if he fed you?"
Austin nodded.
Norman Ernest Borlaug was born on a farm near Cresco, Iowa, to Henry and Clara Borlaug. After receiving his bachelor's in forestry from the University of Minnesota in 1937, he worked for the U.S. Forest Service in Massachusetts and Idaho. He returned to Minnesota and received a master's and, in 1942, a doctorate in plant pathology.
He accepted an appointment as a geneticist and plant pathologist directing the Cooperative Wheat Research and Production Program in Mexico. Within 20 years, he was an expert in finding a high-yielding, disease-resistant wheat, and he had a mission of using technology to feed as many hungry people as possible.
"Even when he was on the brink of pneumonia in Malawi, even when he was stricken by cancer, he was always more concerned for the well-being of African farmers than he was for himself," Sasakawa said.
Borlaug won the only Nobel Prize awarded for agriculture for his efforts that led Pakistan, and eventually India, to become self-sufficient in food production.
"Norm planted his fields in Pakistan in the midst of violent conflict," said Gates, who flew to College Station from Washington, where he -- along with others in the Obama administration -- is debating how to move forward in Afghanistan.
"He made the point that development assistance cannot wait for peace. It is a part of making peace -- a lesson as meaningful and relevant today as decades ago," Gates said.
The memorial service marked Gates' third trip back to Aggieland since leaving the A&M presidency for Washington in 2006.
He closed his remarks by using words that Borlaug delivered during a 2003 commencement address at Texas A&M. He urged Americans to resist becoming arrogant and closing their hearts to the less fortunate, especially the hungry.
"Remember, compassion is the greatest of all human virtues," Gates said, quoting from Borlaug's remarks.
The secretary of defense added: "There is no more fitting epitaph for Dr. Norman Borlaug."
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