Charles Madera Rick (30 April 1915 – 5 May 2002) was a plant geneticist and botanist who pioneered research on the origins of the tomato. He was widely regarded as the world's leading authority on tomato biology. Born in 1915 in Reading, PA, Rick earned a bachelor's degree in horticulture in 1937 fromPennsylvania State University. He earned a doctoral degree in genetics from Harvard University in 1940 and joined the Vegetable Crops Department at the University of California, Davis in 1940. On retirement from the University of California in 1981 he became professor emeritus and continued his research and lecturing for doctoral students till his late days. He died on May 5, 2002 in Davis, California.