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A Legacy of Leadership: John & Ginny Rowe Invest in the Future

Ginny and John Rowe

For John and Ginny Rowe, philanthropy is both a joy and a responsibility. Twenty-year members of the Danforth Society, and 15-year members of the William H. Danforth Legacy Society, the Rowes have made supporting the Danforth Center part of their life’s work. John spent 35 years in banking before serving as CEO of Bethesda Health Group, which provides…

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The Bellwether Foundation: Leading the Way in Plant Science Innovation

A young scientist inspects a sorghum leaf.

With a mission to enhance quality of life in St. Louis through bold, future-focused philanthropy, The Bellwether Foundation has become a catalytic force in plant science innovation at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. The Foundation’s visionary support has powered critical advances in phenotyping—a field that uses imaging and AI to observe how plants grow,…

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JJK FAN Students Dig into Plant Science with the Baxter Lab

JJK student with a teacher.

Earlier this year, 50 students from the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Food, Agriculture, and Nutrition Innovation Center (JJK FAN) got to trade their usual schoolwork for microscopes and handfuls of soil thanks to a six-week program led by our Baxter Lab. The program, called Baxter Lab’s Atomic Numbers, provided the fifth-through-eighth grade students the chance to practice…

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Building Capacity: Advanced Training to Improve Teff Productivity

Ibsa and Getu looking at plants in a lab.

Long before he became a plant biologist studying crop improvement at the Danforth Center, Ibsa Merga was learning about agriculture as a child growing up on his family’s farm in the countryside of Ethiopia. Farming is the backbone of the local community there, and Merga spent his early years working with the plants his family…

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