Noted WSU Scientist Dies Of Cancer At 72

Yeshajahu Pomeranz, a Washington State University cereal chemist who helped pioneer processes for marketing wheat fiber as a healthy food additive and marketing Washington wheat to Japan, has died of brain cancer.

Pomeranz, 72, who died Friday in Brookline, Mass., was recruited to head the university’s Cereal Chemistry Program, which opened in 1985.

“His advice and encyclopedic knowledge will be a terrific loss. But he has left a tremendous legacy of a program that is going very strong,” said Desmond O’Rourke, director of the IMPACT Center at the WSU College of Agriculture and Home Economics.

Pomeranz helped develop a unique dietary fiber that helped manufacturers market wheat fiber as a food additive.

Pomeranz also helped develop a method to detect sprouting of ripe wheat before it is visible. The method has helped make Washington wheat competitive in Japan and other areas with wet climates that can cause destructive post-harvest sprouting.

In March, Pomeranz announced his retirement as head of the cereal chemistry program but continued working part time at the center. , DataTimes