MARCH 31 • 2022 | 49

I

nsects are David Lowenstein’s pro-
fessional expertise. He works as
an extension educator for MSU
Extension, helping people in Michigan
learn how to deal with insects and how
to care for their lawns, flower gardens,
vegetable gardens and trees.

Growing up in the
Riverdale section of the
Bronx, Lowenstein did not
have a garden. His parents’
apartment on the first floor
looked out on the lawn, so
he could see the landscaping
service cut the grass. Once, he planted
tomato plants outside the apartment,
but the landscapers mowed them down.
He says he did take care of a spider
plant inside the apartment.
On the way to his undergraduate
degree in biology at City University

of New York, Lowenstein helped with
a professor’s research project on the
varying diets of fish in the Bronx River.
Mostly the fish ate insects; the mix of
insects varied according to the urban-
ization of the surrounding area. At a
summer internship at the University
of Wisconsin, Lowenstein worked on
biological controls, essentially, using
good insects to manage harmful ones,
especially the brown marmorated stink
bug, which infests fruit trees. He went
back to Madison to earn his master’s
degree, followed by his Ph.D. in Urban
Agriculture at the University of Illinois
in Chicago.
“This is not a typical path for a
Jewish boy from the Bronx, but I enjoy
it,” he says candidly. In a way, though,
this career does represent a return to
his ancestral roots. His grandparents in

Germany worked in cattle trading.
People call on Lowenstein for advice
about how to convert part of their
lawns to native plants. Why might
someone want to do that? Lowenstein
says, “Turf looks nice, but it requires
maintenance. Turf provides not much
food for beneficial insects. Butterflies
and bees do much better with native
wildflowers and ornamental grasses.
Native plants require no herbicides or
pesticides; you might fertilize wildflow-
ers every couple of years.”
How does working as an entomologist
and agricultural adviser impact living
as a Jew?
“My supervisors and employers have
always been fully accommodating about
Shabbat observance and taking off for
Jewish holidays,” he says. “That has not

He offers tips on how to convert part
of your lawn to native plants.

David Lowenstein
— Entomologist

LOUIS FINKELMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

David
Lowenstein

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