Bent Skovmand, a plant scientist who helped oversee the creation of a “doomsday vault” to house as many as 3 million of the world’s crop seeds in case of disaster, died February 6 in the Swedish town of Kavlinge. He was 61, and had a brain tumor.

The seed bank, which is under construction inside a mountain on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen in the Arctic Ocean, will reportedly be the largest in the world when it opens in September.

Its purpose is to ensure the survival of crop diversity in the event of plant epidemics, nuclear war, natural disasters or climate change, and to offer the world a chance to restart growth of crops.

Skovmand, who earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees and a doctorate in plant pathology from the University of Minnesota, traveled around the globe collecting and studying wheat and other plant types for the bank, protecting them from human encroachment and breeding them to make stronger, more disease-resistant strains.

Skovmand’s scientific achievements earned him numerous awards, but most notable was the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Dannebrog, given to him in 2003 by Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. After he was knighted, Skovmand was appointed director of the Nordic Gene Bank, a center in Sweden that works to conserve, document and use plant resources.

Skovmand maintained close ties to the University of Minnesota throughout his life, and his family plans to establish a fellowship at the university in his name, said Richard Zeyen, a plant pathology professor at the university.