Davis, Calif.—James A. Wolpert died Oct. 14 at his home. He was 67. Wolpert was a former chair of the Department of Viticulture and Enology at the University of California, Davis and a longtime extension specialist in viticulture who “spent a good part of his career conveying mission-critical information to the grape and wine industry,” recalled the department’s current chair David Block in a statement released by the school. “As a researcher, Jim focused on rootstock evaluation, as well as scion clonal trials, including the important Heritage Zinfandel clones that he planted at Oakville,” Block said. “For us here in the department, however, Jim will be most remembered for getting us to where we are today as a department, both figuratively and quite literally, as he was instrumental, as chair, in creating the vision for the Robert Mondavi Institute.”