Radcliffe "Rally" Greenwell, a fourth-generation Big Island paniolo and a former manager of Parker Ranch, died Sunday at North Hawai'i Community Hospital. He was 92.

Greenwell "leaves behind a ranching legacy of loyalty to and love for the men, women, the land and the animals he was so connected to for nearly a century," said Dr. Billy Bergin, long-time Parker Ranch veterinarian and author. "He was born to the cowboy life and this provided him with innate (skills) for animal caregiving."

Bergin, who has worked with seven different Parker Ranch general managers, described Greenwell as unique in that he rose from cowboy to general manager because "he was endowed with people skills."

Parker Ranch had grown to 262,000 acres and as its manager, Greenwell opted to phase out Humu'ula as a sheep station when it was no longer cost-effective and converted it into a heifer growing division, eventually increasing the mother cow herd by 4,000 head to 18,000.

Greenwell also developed an elaborate water system that increased grazing efficiency and distributed water to the slopes of Mauna Kea, Bergin said.

"Rally was a naturalist who viewed Mother Nature as our mistress and believed her integrity should not be violated by overstocking or overgrazing," Bergin added. "It was a code he lived by."

Greenwell was also the first Parker Ranch manager to champion professional research to resolve problems, said Bergin, who credits "Rally's relentless effort, first to pinpoint the cause of yellow calf syndrome (copper deficiency) and second, to provide mineral supplements, as nothing short of heroic."

Born on Christmas Day 1913 in Honokohau, Kona, Greenwell was raised on his family's Palani Ranch. His father, grandfather and great-grandfather were ranchers.

Greenwell joined Parker Ranch in 1934 and became a foreman a year later. He left in the early 1940s to become an assistant manager at Kahua Ranch but returned to Parker Ranch in 1956. He quit as general manager in 1971.

"He was kolohe, a jokester, but work was serious to him," Joan "Fluffy" Anderson said of her father. "He was a cowboy's cowboy who worked his way up from the bottom. It seemed like he was always on a horse."

Greenwell is survived by his wife of 59 years, Patricia; son David; daughter Joan; sister Barbara Fitzgibbons; three grandsons; and numerous nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Hawai'i Preparatory Academy's Davies Chapel. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Paniolo Preservation Society, 62-2279B Kanehoa Drive, Kamuela, HI, 96743; or to North Hawai'i Community Hospital, 67-1125 Mamalahoa Highway, Kamuela, HI, 96743; or to the Kona Historical Society, P.O. Box 398, Captain Cook, HI, 96704.

Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.