Bent Skovmand, 61; scientist worked to preserve seeds

STOCKHOLM -- Bent Skovmand, a plant scientist who helped oversee the creation of a doomsday vault to house as many as 3 million of the world's crop seeds in case of disaster, has died. He was 61.

Dr. Skovmand, who was born in Denmark and was a Danish citizen, died last Tuesday in the town of Kavlinge, his wife said. Swedish media reports said the cause of death was brain tumor complications.

The seed bank, which is under construction inside a mountain on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen in the Arctic Ocean, will reportedly be the largest in the world when it opens in September.

Its purpose is to ensure the survival of crop diversity in the event of plant epidemics, nuclear war, natural disasters or climate change, and to offer the world a chance to restart growth of food crops that may have been wiped out.

Dr. Skovmand, a University of Minnesota graduate who went on to earn a master's and doctorate in plant science there, traveled around the globe collecting and studying wheat and other plant types for the bank, protecting them from human encroachment and breeding them to make stronger, more disease-resistant strains.

Dr. Skovmand's scientific achievements earned him numerous awards, but most notable was the Knight's Cross of the Order of Dannebrog, given to him in 2003 by Queen Margrethe II of Denmark.

After he was knighted, Dr. Skovmand was appointed director of the Nordic Gene Bank, a center in Sweden that works to conserve, document, and use plant resources.