Malcolm Cornelius Bourne

May 18, 1926 - October 3, 2016

“Blessed are those who die in the Lord.” Malcolm Bourne died peacefully at home with his wife Janice and daughter Virginia at his side. He had mesothelioma and was in hospice care. Thank you to his nurse, Barb Patnode, and others who provided for Malcolm’s care. Calling hours will be held on Friday October 7th from 2-4 pm and 6-8 pm at DeVaney-Bennett Funeral Home, 181 N. Main St., Geneva. Memorial Service will be held on Saturday October 8th at 3pm at First Baptist Church, 134 N. Main St., Geneva. In lieu of flowers, memorials are requested for the Director’s Excellence Fund, NYSAES, 630 W. North St., Geneva, NY 14456-1371 or online at nysaes.cals.cornell.edu/ directors-fund, or to the church or charity of your choice. Born to Winifred Collins and Herbert Bourne in Moonta, South Australia, ten minutes before his twin Margaret Cornelius, Malcolm said "every little boy should have a twin sister" and Margaret agreed. They joined a brother, Donald, who predeceased him. Malcolm and his family soon moved to Adelaide where he became a very serious student, resenting recess and game playing because it took time from the real work of learning figures and words and science. At 13 years of age, chemistry became his first love, moving to a close second only when he married his precious wife, Elizabeth Schumacher, a decade later. They were happily married more than 53 years (1953-2007) before she died of cancer. He and Elizabeth had five children: Gwendolyn Bourne, Jonathan Bourne (Penny), Lincoln Bourne (Stephanie), Virginia Trecartin (Ralph), and Andrew Bourne (Gilann) who predeceased him; ten grandchildren: Sierra Bourne-Podawiltz (Alan), Andrew Trecartin (Megan), Eric Bourne, Alex Trecartin, Ross Trecartin, Zackary Trecartin (Amanda), Stephen Brown-Bourne, Christopher Brown-Bourne, Rand Bourne, and Finnley Bourne who all brought joy to his life always. In 2008 Malcolm married Janice Robinson adding loved stepchildren Janée Robinson (Mike Monk) and T. Leslie Robinson (Molly), along with a step grandchild Mayla Robinson. On September 28, 2016 Malcolm became the great-grandfather everyone knew he already was when Jono Podawiltz was born. Over his long career as a chemist and food scientist, Malcolm desired that his God-given gifts and his hard work be used in the service of humankind to honor God. He lectured in over 40 countries and traveled to many more, worked to advance the use of good-tasting soy milk in Asian countries where malnourishment was prevalent, headed up a Chinese government-sponsored symposium in 1984 to further agriculture in China, spent two years helping to set up a graduate food science department at the University of the Philippines in Los Banos, and long into retirement lectured around the country and the world, as well as mentoring students and others in their fields of study. He was especially interested in Post Harvest Food Loss and worked to spread the word, and solutions, for decades through papers, lectures, encyclopedia articles and upper level classes at Cornell University. Malcolm received many awards and honors over his long career in Food Science, but he was especially honored when he was presented with the International Award by the Institute of Food Technologists in 1992. A long-time active member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, in Adelaide first then in Auburn and Geneva, he was instrumental in building the local church in Geneva where he was Head Elder until a few years ago. He also promoted Adventist education at all levels. Malcolm Bourne, Ph.D. graduated from the University of Adelaide, South Australia, AUS with a B.S. in Chemistry, worked ten years in industry as a chemist at Mum’s Own food processing factory in Adelaide, did his Masters in Food Science and Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of California, Davis. He then joined the faculty of Cornell University, as a full-time research professor at the Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, NY. He was an Emeritus Professor in retirement. His major work at Cornell was in rheology and in the measurement of food texture. He wrote the definitive book on texture still used today.