Malcolm L. Sargent

Malcolm L. Sargent passed away on September 8, 2025, in Urbana, Il.  He was born September 14th, 1937 in Grayling, MI to Dr. Leland E. Sargent and Ruth G. Wood, and raised first in Kalkaska, MI and then Jackson, MI. He obtained a BS degree in Chemistry from the University of Michigan (1960) as a Naval ROTC student, spent two years as a Junior Officer on Pacific Fleet destroyers, obtained a PhD in Biology from Stanford University (1966), and had a Post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan.

In 1960 he married Sue Mary Glasgow and that union produced three sons, Mark Gregory Sargent of Evergreen, CO, Jeffrey Scott (Kim) Sargent of Chicago, IL, Steven Lee (Inga) Sargent of Champaign, IL and five grandchildren, Allie, Eric, Ethan, Kyle, and Tanya. In 1980 he married Ann Hope Perkison Brown and helped raise two stepsons, David Lee Brown of Pittsburgh, PA, and Andrew James (Teresa) Brown and their four grandchildren, Andrew, Benjamin, Claire and Kate. He is survived by his wife and soul mate of over 45 years, Ann Hope of Urbana, his sister, Mona Lee Dobben of Sun City West, AZ, his sons, stepsons, grandchildren and step-grandchildren.

In 1968 he joined the faculty of the University of Illinois and was a member of the Botany, Genetics and Development, and Plant Biology Departments over the years. During the first half of his career his research interests focused on the molecular biology of biological rhythms in the fungus, Neurospora, while the second half of his career was devoted to the study of relationships among the Lilliputian world of mosses, liverworts and hornworts (bryology). He taught a large variety of classes including Introductory Biology, Genetics, Laboratory Genetics, Biological Rhythms, Bryology, Field Botany and Environmental Botany. He mentored several PhD and MS candidates, and served as a free-lance flight instructor for over 25 years.

He loved the outdoors (hunting, fishing and bird-watching), was an avid runner and tennis player until felled by disabilities, and enjoyed stamp-collecting until an addiction to genealogy replaced that interest in retirement. As a general-aviation pilot he loved flying with his family and was fortunate enough to fly into or over most of the states of the USA and the provinces of Canada.

The preferred form of remembrances are donations to any local group that serves the needs of the underprivileged, e.g., the Eastern Illinois Food Bank.  Private services will be held at a later date.

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