LSU mosquito Michael Perich expert dies in accident
Oct 24, 2003 12:00 PM
LSU AGCENTER mosquito expert Dr. Michael Perich died in a one-vehicle accident Oct. 11 east of Baton Rouge.
Perich, who was known as one of the country's experts on vector-borne diseases, had most recently led a crusade to keep down the effects of West Nile virus and to get many of the Louisiana's parishes to work toward forming mosquito control districts.
The 46-year-old died when his truck left an interstate highway, flipped and landed in rainwater about 3 miles east of Walker. The cause of the accident is still under investigation.
“This is a great loss for the LSU AgCenter, and it's also a big loss for the people of Louisiana,” said Bill Richardson, chancellor of the LSU AgCenter. “Mike Perich was a talented entomologist who worked tirelessly to find out more about mosquito-borne diseases and to reduce the effects those had on people.”
Perich joined the LSU AgCenter in 2001 after spending more than 16 years as a civilian researcher for the U.S. Department of Defense/U.S. Army. In that capacity, his assignment was protecting troops from the hazards of insects, and his work involved at least 29 major projects in 12 countries.
In Louisiana, Perich quickly became known as a friend to those waging war against mosquitoes. “Mike Perich was the type of man who could be found crawling under a house or wading through a rice field to conduct research on ways to combat mosquitoes,” said Bill Brown, vice chancellor of the LSU AgCenter. “He certainly wasn't someone who got stuck in his lab, because he wanted to know what was going on in the field and took a hands-on approach to research.”
Colleagues termed Perich a rising star and said he valued working with mosquito control district officials across the state to battle the potentially deadly pests.
