Dr. Gregorio Begonia, 70, passed away peacefully Friday, August 16, 2019, at home with his family by his side. He was born in the Philippines to the late Mr. and Mrs. Ignacio Begonia. He completed his elementary and high school education in the Philippines graduating as the salutatorian of his class. After receiving his B.S. degree from the University of the Philippines at Los Baños (UPLB), he worked as a Scientist at the National Institute of Science and Technology of the Philippines, followed by an Instructor position at UPLB. After earning his M.S. degree from UPLB on a full SEARCA scholarship, he was awarded a full EDPITAF-World Bank scholarship and attended Mississippi State University (MSU) where he obtained his Ph.D. degree.

At the time of his passing, Dr. Begonia was a tenured Professor in the Department of Biology in the College of Science, Engineering and Technology (CSET) at Jackson State University (JSU). He served ten years as Chair, and a few years as an Assistant Chair of the Department of Biology, and as an Associate Director of the Title III-funded Environmental Science Ph.D. program at JSU. He was an Academician and Scientist and had four decades of combined teaching, research and service experiences at the university level. Prior to joining JSU in 1992, he was an Assistant Professor at UPLB and served the Philippine government as a Consultant. He spent seven years as a Visiting Professor, Postdoctoral Fellow/Research Associate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL, University of Missouri at Columbia, MO, and MSU. Since joining JSU in 1992, he challenged minds and changed lives of more than one thousand students and public school science teachers by advising, mentoring and teaching undergraduate and graduate Biology and graduate Environmental Science courses. In addition to teaching, he conducted research in various facets of plant physiology and biochemistry. He secured funding as PI, Co-PI, or collaborator for research, instrumentation, and training grants from several funding agencies. As a result of his research and scholarly activities, Dr. Begonia published as author or co-author a number of articles in various peer-reviewed scientific journals, and presented more than a hundred invited or volunteered papers at different state, regional, national and international conferences, scientific meetings, and workshops. He also served as member and/or chair of several department, college and university committees. Outside of JSU, he served as Editorial Board Member of several scientific journals, review panelist, external reviewer of several research proposals submitted to funding agencies, and as peer-reviewer of manuscripts submitted to the scientific journals. Dr. Begonia was also a member of several professional/scientific organizations where he served as member in some committees. He also served the Filipino-American Association of Mississippi in several capacities including as President. Dr. Begonia was a faithful parishioner of St. Paul Catholic Church.

Dr. Begonia loved God, family, relatives, friends, gardening, watching sports, dancing, reading and travelling with his family. His family was the love and light of his life. Spending time with his loving wife, two sons and daughters-in-law and especially his grandson Ethan was his greatest joy!

Dr. Begonia was preceded in death by his parents, brother Romulo and sister Esmenia of the Philippines. He is survived by his loving wife of 43 years Dr. Maria Fatima Begonia, children Michael and Mark, daughters-in-law Alexa and Hayley, and grandson Ethan; siblings: Ines, Juan, Rogelio, and Bonifacio and their families; brothers-in-law Efren, Ireneo, Jose, Dante and Edgar and their families; and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, relatives and friends who all surrounded him with love.

Viewing will be held Friday, August 30, 2019 from 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. at Wright & Ferguson Funeral Home, 114 Burney Drive, Flowood, MS 39232. Funeral services will be held Saturday, August 31, 2019 at St. Paul Catholic Church, 5971 Hwy 25, Flowood, MS 39232. Visitation will be at the church beginning at 10 a.m., followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 11 a.m. The burial service will be held immediately after the mass at Lakeland Place Garden Park Cemetery also in Flowood, MS.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations in honor of Dr. Gregorio Begonia be made to the St. Paul Catholic Church Capital Campaign. For additional details, please go to their website at www.saintpaulcatholicchurch.com.