Growing up in segregated Arkansas gave entomologist Ernest Harris a point of comparison when he moved to Ho-nolulu in 1962.

The people were pleasant, the culture was diverse, but Hawai'i wasn't free of racial discrimination, he said.

"There were some slight wrinkles that have since changed," Harris said. "When I first came to Hawai'i, I was looking for a place to stay, and at that time, they would sometimes have in the paper 'haole' or 'nisei' associated with places that were for rent."

The son of farmers, Harris went on to earn an international reputation for his pioneering research on the crop-destroying fruit fly. His work has saved crops in Hawai'i and around the world from the tiny destructive creatures.

Harris developed a technique using sterile male flies — when released, they breed with female flies, resulting in no offspring. He also developed a strain of lab-reared wasps, known as the "Harris strain," that act as natural predators to fruit-fly eggs. Both techniques have helped eradicate fruit-fly infestations in Hawai'i, South America, Central America, Asia and Africa.

"Hawai'i was the only place in the world doing this kind of work," Harris said. "It has become technology given to the world."

Harris has watched the state change along with the rest of the country following the 1960s civil rights struggle. He has come to love the Islands and is happy to have made Hawai'i his home.

"What became apparent was that it was quite a joy to know and interact with so many different types of people in Hawai'i," Harris said. "You begin to feel free and happy in this kind of environment."

Reach Loren Moreno at lmoreno@honoluluadvertiser.com.