[Taxacom] Paul Fryxell

[José Luis R. ContrerasJiménez]

Sorry about, my condolences for his family an botanic community.



2011/7/14 Jenkins, Philip D - (pjenkins) <pjenkins at email.arizona.edu>

> OBIT
>
>        Paul Arnold Fryxell died in Claremont CA, Monday, 11 July 2011, as a
> result of heart failure.  He was born 2 February 1927 in Moline IL, the son
> of Hjalmar Edward Fryxell and Hulda Eunice (Peterson) Fryxell.  Residing in
> Texas from 1965 to 2005, later he and his wife moved to Claremont.  He was
> preceded in death by his parents and by his only brother, Robert Edward
> Fryxell.  He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Greta Albrecht Fryxell and
> their three children: Karl Joseph Fryxell and his wife, Margaret (Peggy)
> Kraft Fryxell of Fairfax VA, Joan Esther Fryxell and her husband, Timothy
> Michael Ross of Claremont CA, and Glen Edward Fryxell and his wife, Lenita
> Alverson Willhight Fryxell of Kennewick WA.  There are five grandchildren,
> five great-grandchildren, and six nephews.
>        Dr. Fryxell received education at Moline High School and at
> Augustana College in Rock Island IL (class of 1949); subsequently he
> received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees at Iowa State University.  First
> employed by the New Mexico Agricultural Experiment Station (Las Cruces NM),
> he then taught at the University of Wichita (Wichita KS) in the Department
> of Botany and Bacteriology.  Most of his professional career was spent as a
> research scientist with the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S.
> Department of Agriculture, first in Tempe AZ and then at Texas A&M
> University in College Station TX.  Upon retirement in 1994 he moved to
> Austin TX..  He was appointed Honorary Curator at the New York Botanical
> Garden in 1993, and also that year accepted a position as Adjunct Professor
> (in the then Department of Botany) at the University of Texas.  Most of his
> extensive plant collections are now housed at the New York Botanical Gardens
> and the University of Texas.     During World War II he served in the Army
> Air Force (1945-1946), part of which time was spent in southern Germany
> (Bavaria) at the Oberpfaffenhofen Air Base, where he helped entertain
> war-weary troops by playing saxophone for the “big band” music then popular.
>  Later he received an honorable discharge and returned to his college
> education.
>        In his professional career he published widely in the technical
> scientific literature, including more than 200 papers in scientific
> journals, several books (notably The Natural History of the Cotton Tribe,
> the Malvaceae of Mexico, and a monograph on Pavonia), and contributions to
> numerous floristic works (e.g., the Flora of the Lesser Antilles, Flora
> Meso-Americana, Flora Novo-Galiciana, and others).  He served as President
> of the American Society of Plant Taxonomists (1983-1984) and of the Society
> for Economic Botany (1988-1989).  Named a Fellow of the  American
> Association for the Advancment of Science and of the Texas Academy of
> Science,  he was honored with the Cotton Genetics Research Award in 1967 and
> the Henry Allen Gleason Award in 1989 (for an outstanding recent publication
> in the field of plant taxonomy, plant ecology, or plant geography).  Paul
> Fryxell was a Fulbright Scholar in 1993, studying in Argentina.  His
> biography is listed in American Men and Women of Science, Who's Who in the
> World, and several similar biographical references.
>        Fryxell’s research work took him to many parts of the world as a
> botanical explorer, including extensive work in Mexico and Australia and
> additional field work in Central America, Venezuela, and Brazil.  He
> specialized in the plant family Malvaceae and was sought after as a
> consultant for his expertise with this group of plants.
>        Paul Fryxell was an active member of Unitarian Universalist
> churches, where he lived in Arizona, in Texas, or in California, serving in
> various capacities.  Most recently he served as coordinator of the BUUK
> GRUUP of the Monte Vista Unitarian Universalist Congregation, a book club in
> which he enjoyed the lively discussions.
>
> _____________________
>
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-- 
Biól. José Luis R. Contreras Jiménez