Delvin S. Fanning was born on July 13, 1931 on a dairy farm near Copenhagen, NY in the days of farming with horse power, where he most enjoyed helping his Dad with the trapping of wild animals. After high school he began trapping professionally, but after one year, low fur prices and girls caused a change of mind to pursue college.  He received his BS and MS degrees from Cornell University (advisor Nyle C. Brady) and then studied under Marion (M. L.) Jackson at the Univ. of Wisconsin for his PhD, which he received in 1964. During and between his school years he did five field seasons mapping soils with USDA SCS in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. In March of 1964 he moved his family to College Park, MD where he joined the faculty at the University of Maryland. While at UMD, Del taught courses in Soil Morphology, Genesis and Classification and in Soil Mineralogy.  In 1989, with his late first wife, M.C.B. Fanning, he published a textbook entitled Soil: Morphology, Genesis, and Classification that has been used in teaching this subject matter area at a number of universities in the U.S. and abroad.  He also coached the Maryland soil judging team during 12 or more seasons, taking students to regional contests throughout the NE region, as well as to a number of national contests around the country. He also organized or served as chief judge for four or five regional Soil Judging contests held in Maryland and for the two national contests held in 1973 and 1994.

Del has made many research contributions, but two areas are particularly noteworthy. Del is known as one of the leading experts in the world in the area of Acid Sulfate Soils. He pioneered work in recognizing the significance of acid sulfate soils in a variety of geomorphological settings and he has been on a crusade to help people become aware of the potential environmental hazards associated with exposing sulfidic (potentially acid) materials. His collaboration with Dr. John E. Witty of SCS resulted in significant revisions of Soil Taxonomy for acid sulfate soils in the 1992 and subsequent editions of Keys to Soil Taxonomy. Del is also recognized for his work on disturbed or highly man influenced soils. His work in this area resulted in part from his involvement in a number of urban soil survey projects with USDA SCS/NRCS including Washington DC, Baltimore City, and, in an advisory capacity, New York City. These two areas of research (acid sulfate weathering and disturbed soils) were interestingly combined in his work on classification of soils formed in coal mine spoil in the Appalachian province and again in his work on soils formed from materials dredged from estuarine harbors along the Atlantic Coast. In both cases these were very youthful soils with unique properties affected by acid sulfate problems (leading to serious environmental difficulties). Many practitioners and managers of various groups have become aware of the problems and hazards of these soils due to Del’s efforts. As a result of his many contributions, Del was recognized as a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy and of the Soil Science Society of America.

Del continued as Professor in the Departments of Agronomy and Natural Resource Sciences and Landscape Architecture at UMD until his retirement from the University in July 1999, at which point he was made Professor Emeritus. Following his retirement from the University, Del has continued to be extremely active both in the larger profession and in MAPSS. He has led field tours, organized symposia, written and presented papers at professional conferences, and is also currently the editor of Pedologue the MAPSS newsletter. Del was a charter member of MAPSS in 1986 and served as Vice President in 1990-91. Del was elected an honorary member of MAPSS in 1999.