David O. TeBeest was born in 1946 in Baldwin, Wisconsin. Dr. David O. TeBeest was a professor in Plant Pathology at the University of Arkansas until his retirement in 2015. He received his B.S. in Biology from Wisconsin State University in 1968, and an M.S. and Ph. D. in Plant Pathology there in 1971 and 1974 respectively. He became Assistant Professor at The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville in 1978, Associate Professor in 1981, and Professor of Plant Pathology from 1984-2015. He then served as University Professor Emeritus in Plant Pathology for U of A. He has been listed as a noteworthy plant pathologist and educator by Marquis' "Who’s Who". He conducted research efforts on the Molecular Ecology and epidemiology of Plant Pathogens in the Department of Plant Pathology at U of A and particularly focused on interactions between fungal plant pathogens with rice, sorghum, and aeschynomene. He conducted and examined lab experiments that dealt with selected pathogens and the effect they have on seed infection and transmission as well as effects on yield and seed quality of rice, corn, and sorghum. He developed a biological weed control product called Collego, which was the first bioherbicide developed and used in row-crop agriculture in the world. He co-authored many publications on Rice Blast Disease, Anthracnose Disease of Grain Sorghum, and other plant species in the 1990s and 2000s. He created and registered products to help the control of weeds such as Collego in 1982, Collego II in 1997, and Lockdown in 2006 in collaboration with The Upjohn Company, ECOGEN, and ARI Technologies respectively. He also co-authored works on fungal genetics from the 1980s-1990s. He was the recipient of the USDA research award in 1990, a member of The American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Phytopathological Society, Mycology Society American, and the American Society of Microbiologists.