Ron I. Dickinson, 69, of Palmetto, Fla., died Sunday, July 11, 2010, in Waynesville, N.C., where he and his wife spent the summers.

Born May 30, 1941, in Lafayette, he was the son of the late William and Barbara Rodenbarger Dickinson. He was a 1959 graduate of Delphi High School. He attended Purdue University for two years, then transferred and graduated from Mississippi State in Starkville, Mississippi, with a master's degree in entomology.

He married Nan Rickly Stanley in 1975.

Mr. Dickinson was the retired owner of Dickinson's and Country Road Nursery in Palmetto, Fla. He moved from Starkville to Bradenton, Fla., in 1968 to assume the Manatee County agent's job. He started Dickinson's Wholesale Nursery in 1976 in Palmetto and purchased County Roads Nursery in 1984.

He enjoyed traveling in his motor home.

Surviving are his wife; stepchildren, Hal Stanley, Roger Stanley and Teresa Dorman (husband: Bill), all of Florida; and two sisters, Belinda Weatherwax (husband: Deet) of Delphi and LaDora Hamilton of Rossville.