From testing prototype tractors to developing innovative education programs, Silas Bartsch lived as an innovator.

That life was honored October 22 as about 150 friends, colleagues and former students gathered in Ashley Auditorium at Fresno Pacific University to pay tribute to Bartsch, who died October 18.

While a teenager in his native Minnesota, Bartsch drove experimental tractors for relatives of Wendy Wakeman, dean of the FPU School of Professional Studies (SPS). “I can’t think of a more fitting first job,” she said.