Dr. J. A. Mortensen

Dr. John Mortenson from Florida Ag Hall of Fame on Vimeo

Dr. Mortensen, Professor Emeritus at the University of Florida, bred Blanc DuBois, Stover, Conquistador, Dixie, Orlando Seedless.and many others.  He was born in 1929 (San Antonio) and grew up at the Texas experimental station at Winterhaven and Crystal City.  He received BA (1950) and MA (1951) degrees from Texas A&M, and a Doctorate in 1957 from Cornell.  In 1960, he accepted a position with the University of Florida at their Leesburg Station near Orlando.  He worked there until he retired in 1991.

I came across this interesting link between D. Mortensen and T.V. Munson:
"Dr. John Mortensen, who spent a very productive career at the Leesburg Station and developed most of the successful Florida grape varieties now in use, came from Texas. There, his father, E. Mortensen a county extension agent planted out grapes for T.V. Munson in evaluations that eventually led to Munson hybrids and the resurgence of grapes in Florida in the early 1900s."

Florida Grape History

 Doing a little more hunting, I came across Dr. George Ray McEachern's A Texas Grape and Wine History:

"In 1931, a large A&M research vineyard was established at the Winter Garden Experiment Station at Winter Haven, Texas by Ernest Mortensen. More than a thousand grape and rootstock varieties were tested until 1952 when the project was closed. When the Munson and Son's Nursery was closed at Denison, Texas the collection of Munson varieties was moved to the Winter Garden Station. Mortensen established Dog Ridge, Champanel and LaPryor as outstanding cotton root rot resistant rootstocks. He identified LeNoir, Champanel and Edna as good fruit producers. He also identified LeNoir, Herbemont and Barlinka as resistant to Vine Disease which we now know as Pierce's Disease. Mortensen also established that Vitis vinifera varieties have serious Black Rot problems in southwest Texas."