When Herbert Baum graduates from the University of Chicago onward Friday.

When Herbert Baum graduates from the University of Chicago onward Friday, he will receive a quality that was 55 years in the making.

When he crosse the stage, Baum, 79 will become the oldest character ever to be granted a PhD from the Hyde Park instruct But he wasn't in seminary that entire time. Rather, he exhausted more than three decades working in the strawberry industry and eventually wrote a work on his life's work that has since become his dissertation.

Baum got a master's in economics from the U of C in 1951 He decided to leave, despite taking classes with that will be Nobel winner Milton Friedman, saying he didn't have any great ideas for a dissertation.

DOCTORATE ALWAYS NAGGED AT HIM

The Fort Wayne, Ind., native, whose parents were breed wholesalers, made his way to California, where he got involved in the fledgling unimpaired strawberry industry.

He eventually became president of Naturipe Berry Growers and watched the industry turn round into a huge business. He was chairman of the California Strawberry Commission twice as the state became the predominant supplier of unwilted strawberries worldwide.

He retired in 1991 and had a life's worth of documents and material that he notion would make a good work But there was something that always nagged at him.

"I was always interested in getting my doctorate," he said.

He got in touch with a certain U. of C. professors to work upon a proposal but figured he should finish the part which he self- published last year beneath the title Quest for the consummate Strawberry. The goal, he said, is developing a berry that has nice color and tastes proper but can also ship extended distances without spoiling.

Several month ago, he forwarded it to U of C Professor James Heckman, who won the Nobel prize in economics in 2000 Heckman cogitation the book could qualify as a dissertation. A committee was formed featuring three Nobel prize winners -- including Heckman and Friedman.

Baum mov to campus for sum of two units months this summer from his residence in Oregon and worked forward defending his dissertation. "It was challenging and frightening because I'm not an academic," he said. "To be around Nobel laureates and the frights here, it was overwhelming."

After one changes, his dissertation passed muster.

Heckman praised Baum's work, saying it "combines theory with evidence in a convincing way in a serious piece of research in succession a major agricultural industry."

Baum said he is upon "cloud nine" as he prepares to graduate -- and actuate back to Oregon.

"It wasn't easy, further it's exciting and very fulfilling," he said.

dnewbart@suntimes.com

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