DALLAS - Norman Borlaug grew up a farm in Northeast Iowa but became famous around the world as the father of the Green Revolution, credited with saving perhaps a billion or more people from starvation.

For his work developing a high-yield wheat, the scientist received a Nobel Peace Prize.

His crops and other innovations transformed agriculture, helping to more than double world food production between 1960 and 1990.

Borlaug, 95, died Saturday from complications of cancer at his home in Dallas, according to a spokesman for Texas A&M University where Borlaug was a distinguished professor.

Josette Sheeran, executive director of the UN World Food Program, said Borlaug saved more lives than any man in human history.

"His heart was as big as his brilliant mind, but it was his passion and compassion that moved the world," Sheeran said.

Tom Vilsack, former governor of Iowa and now U.S. secretary of agriculture, called this state's native son "simply one of the world's best - a determined, dedicated, but humble man who believed we had the collective duty and knowledge to eradicate hunger worldwide."

Earlier this month, the Northeast Iowa Research Farm near Nashua staged a grand opening of the Borlaug Learning Center, which is designed to ensure producers get crop research data in a timely manner.

Pam Johnson, a farmer from Floyd, was at the event.

"He's one of my heroes," she said.

Health issues prevented Borlaug from attending, but he was represented by his sister, Charlotte Culbert of Cresco.

At the ceremony, Culbert remembered her brother's inquisitive mind and kind heart.

"When growing up, we always thought someday Norm would do something special," she said.

Population boom

Borlaug began his work at the end of World War II in Mexico, where he developed disease-resistant varieties of wheat that produced much more grain. He and others later took those varieties and similarly improved strains of rice and corn to Asia, the Middle East, South America and Africa. In Pakistan and India, two of the nations that benefited most from the new crop varieties, grain yields more than quadrupled.

His successes in the 1960s came as experts warned mass starvation was inevitable as the world's population boomed.

"More than any other single person of his age, he has helped to provide bread for a hungry world," said Aase Lionaes, Nobel committee chairman, in presenting the award in 1970. "We have made this choice in the hope that providing bread will also give the world peace."

Sen. Chuck Grassley, Iowa's senior senator, said Borlaug, though a world traveler, always remembered where his story began and remained "a true son of the Iowa soil."

"Norm Borlaug never forgot his roots, right here in the cornfields of Iowa, and Iowans will never forget him," Grassley said. "He will continue to inspire generations of scientists and farmers to innovate and lift those mired in poverty."

Sen. Tom Harkin said modern agriculture is truly a reflection of Borlaug's achievements.

"The way we farm and thus feed and fuel the world are a result of his influence. Though Dr. Borlaug is no longer with us, his vision for agriculture remains," Harkin said.

Food first

Borlaug and the Green Revolution in later decades were criticized for promoting fertilizer and pesticides and focusing on a few high-yield crops that benefited large landowners. He countered wheat was only a vehicle for his real interest, which was to improve people's lives.

"We must recognize the fact that adequate food is only the first requisite for life," he said in accepting the Nobel Prize. "For a decent and humane life we must also provide an opportunity for good education, remunerative employment, comfortable housing, good clothing and effective and compassionate medical care."

Borlaug was born March 25, 1914, on a farm near Cresco. He was educated through the eighth grade in a one-room schoolhouse.

He left home during the Great Depression to study forestry at the University of Minnesota. While there he earned a place in the university's wrestling hall of fame and met his future wife. Norman and Margaret Borlaug married in 1937. Margaret, 95, died in 2007.

After a brief stint with the U.S. Forest Service, Norman Borlaug returned to the University of Minnesota for a doctoral degree in plant pathology. He then worked as a microbiologist for DuPont, but soon left for a job with the Rockefeller Foundation. Between 1944 and 1960, Borlaug dedicated himself to increasing Mexico's wheat production.

In 1963, Borlaug was named head of the newly formed International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico, where he trained thousands of young scientists. He retired in 1979 and turned to university teaching, first at Cornell University and then at Texas A&M.

In 1986, Borlaug established the World Food Prize, which is based in Des Moines. Each year, a $250,000 award is given to a person whose work improves the world's food supply.

He received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor given by Congress, in 2007.