Maurie Semel, Cornell University professor emeritus of entomology, whose research work bolstered the Long Island, N.Y. potato and vegetable industries, died Feb. 10, 2005, in Bucyrus, Ohio. He was 82.

Semel was the insect expert at Cornell's Long Island Agricultural Research Laboratory at Riverhead, N.Y., from 1954 to 1988. In the heyday of vegetable farming on Long Island, Semel conducted insect-pest research that helped move farmers away from a heavy reliance on pesticides to trying biological controls. 

His work helped to contain the Colorado potato beetle, a major pest for fresh-market potato growers. Semel's research also helped farmers of fresh-market sweet corn and cauliflower. 

Semel was born on Jan. 18, 1923, in Brooklyn, N.Y. After serving in the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II, he attended New York Institute of Agriculture in Farmingdale, then Cornell in Ithaca, where he earned both a bachelor's degree (1949) and a doctorate (1954).

He was a decades-long member of Rotary International and a Paul Harris Fellow, and he had 45 years of perfect attendance at Rotary meetings. He served as club president, and district governor and was a supporter of the Rotary Foundation and Rotary's mission for worldwide immunization. 

He is survived by his wife, Marilyn; his son, Mark (Chris) of Longwood, Fla.; daughter, Valerie Spreng (James) of Bucyrus, Ohio; and a son, Brad (Yvonne) of McHenry, Ill.; three grandchildren; brother-in-law, Arthur Burley (Gwen) of Irmo, S.C., and sister-in-law, Evelyn Semel of Manapalan, N.J. He was predeceased by his brother, Sidney, and his sister, Mildred. 

The family requests that, in his memory, donations be made to the Rotary Foundation, P.O. Box 75133, Chicago, IL. 60675-5133, or to the Crawford County Society for Crippled Children and Adults, P.O. Box 641, Bucyrus OH 44820.