He was nominated by Ronald Reagan for the position of Assistant Administrator for Pesticides and Toxic Substances and occupied the post beginning November 13, 1981.
[1] He resigned March 25, 1983, one of a group of 20 officials forced out with EPA Administrator Anne Gorsuch over the agency's management of toxic waste cleanup under Superfund.
[2] Prior to his appointment, Todhunter was an assistant professor of biology at The Catholic University of America, where he chaired the biochemistry program.
[3] After his departure, Todhunter was called to testify in congressional hearings over a delay in banning ethylene dibromide, then in use by the citrus industry as a pesticide to combat fruit flies.
In several meetings, in the context of an August 1981 fruit fly outbreak in California, and while being lobbied by Florida's congressional delegation on behalf of the industry, Todhunter resisted a ban, which was not approved until he left office.