Howard S. Irwin

Howard S. Irwin
PhD
Irwin circa 1971
Born(1928-03-28)March 28, 1928[1][2]
Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
DiedJanuary 23, 2019(2019-01-23) (aged 90)[2]
Truro, Massachusetts
NationalityAmerican
Spouse(s)Marian Campbell Sterne Irwin[3]
Anne Lieb Wolff Irwin[4]
Scientific career
FieldsBotany
Thesis Monographic studies in Cassia. I. Section Xerocalyx. 1960
Author abbrev. (botany)H. S. Irwin[1]

Howard Samuel Irwin Jr. (March 28, 1928 – January 23, 2019) was an American botanist and taxonomist who specialized in the genus Cassia and worked as an administrator at the New York Botanical Garden, Long Island University, and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.[5]

Early life and education

Irwin was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1928. He began his education at Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts, after which point he entered Hofstra College to pursue a career in music. He then transferred to the College of Puget Sound where he earned an undergraduate degree in biology with minors in music and history in 1950, and a subsequent degree in education.[3] Irwin was then a Fulbright teacher of botany and zoology at Queen's College in British Guiana from 1952 until 1956. During that time he was a correspondent for Time magazine.[6] In 1956 he began work on his PhD in taxonomic botany at the University of Texas, earning his degree in 1960.[5]

The New York Botanical Garden

Irwin first began his association with the New York Botanical Garden while a graduate student at the University of Texas, Austin. During his time as a PhD student, Irwin traveled to Brazil and collected botanical specimens on behalf of NYBG, with the bulk of his collecting as a student taking place in 1958.[5] Irwin's field notebooks from his time in Brazil (in total eight expeditions between the 1950s and the 1970s) are held by the Archives of the New York Botanical Garden, along with earlier notebooks documenting his time in Guyana and notebooks for an expedition to Suriname between 1960 and 1972.[7] Irwin's vouchers were also deposited at NYBG and many can be viewed through the C. V. Starr Virtual Herbarium.[8]

Irwin was hired as a research associate at NYBG in 1960, promoted to associate curator in 1963, curator and administrator of the herbarium in 1966, head curator in 1968, executive director in 1971, and president in 1973, a position that he held until 1979 to embark on a sabbatical to pursue scientific research and writing projects. The tenure of his administration is remembered as the most difficult financial period for NYBG, and Irwin is credited with leading the organization during a very challenging time.[5]

Donald J. Bruckmann, chairman of the board of managers of the New York Botanical Garden, wrote of Irwin upon his departure: "Under his stewardship he brought the Garden to new eminence in the world of horticulture and plant science, and made it a great cultural institution in the city with the highest standards in the world. During his tenure the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory was restored and The Cary Arboretum in Millbrook, NY was established."[9]

In addition to his administrative work, Irwin is credited with initiating the Planalto do Brasil Program for the botanical study of the Brazilian Highlands region.[5]

Additional employment

Irwin was appointed vice chancellor of Long Island University from 1980 until 1983 and director of Clark Botanic Garden of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden from 1983 until 1991.[5] He is trustee emeritus of the Truro Conservation Trust in Truro, Massachusetts, elected in 2008 after serving on the trust board from 2003 until 2008.[10]

Honors and associations

Personal life

Irwin and Marian Campbell Sterne married in the early 1950s and had two daughters.[3]

Irwin and Anne Lieb Wolff (now Anne Lieb Irwin) married on April 22, 1979, at the New York Botanical Garden's Enid A. Haupt Conservatory in the Bronx, NY. Wolff graduated from Oberlin College in 1946[12] and earned a master's degree from the Columbia University School of Social Work. At the time of their marriage, she was a potter and craft instructor at the Hebrew Home for the Aged in Riverdale, a neighborhood in the Bronx.[4]

The Irwins showed a strong commitment to conservation, placing a conservation restriction on their property within the Cape Cod National Seashore which was purchased by Anne Lieb Irwin's grandparents in 1920.[13][14]

Select publications

References

  1. ^ a b "Howard S. Irwin". Harvard Index of Botanists. Retrieved September 25, 2018.
  2. ^ a b "Howard S. Irwin, 1928–2019". Vertical Files of the LuEsther T. Mertz Library of the New York Botanical Garden. 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d "New Executive Director of the New York Botanical Garden". Garden Journal. 21 (4). August 1971.
  4. ^ a b "Dr. Howard Irwin Weds Anne Wolff". The New York Times. April 23, 1979.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Sinon, Stephen. "Howard S. Irwin Records (RG4) Irwin, Howard S." www.nybg.org. Retrieved September 25, 2018.
  6. ^ "New Director at Clark Garden". Cark Garden of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Newsletter. Fall 1983.
  7. ^ "Library catalog search for Irwin's field notebooks". The LuEsther T. Mertz Library of the New York Botanical Garden. Retrieved September 25, 2018.
  8. ^ "Howard Irwin » C. V. Starr Virtual Herbarium". New York Botanical Garden. Retrieved September 25, 2018.
  9. ^ Irwin, Howard (August 23, 1979). "Memo". The New York Botanical Garden.
  10. ^ "Howard Irwin – Trustee Emeritus" (PDF). Truro Conservation Trust Newsletter. 8 (2): [2]. 2008. Retrieved September 25, 2018.
  11. ^ a b Frankel, Mortimer (1972). "News Release – Dr. Irwin is Appointed Executive Vice-President of the New York Botanical Garden". The New York Botanical Garden.
  12. ^ "Recognition: 1940s – Oberlin College and Conservatory". Oberlin College and Conservatory. February 13, 2018. Retrieved September 25, 2018.
  13. ^ "The Bounty of Generosity" (PDF). Truro Conservation Trust Newsletter. 7 (2): [1–2]. 2007. Retrieved September 25, 2018.
  14. ^ Archives, UMass Boston (March 4, 2016). "Anne Lieb Irwin at the Truro Mass. Memories Road Show: Video Interview". Retrieved September 25, 2018.