Lonnie Nathaniel Standifer (1926–1996) was an entomologist born in Itasca, Texas.[1] An expert in honey bee physiology and nutrition, in 1970 he became the first African-American scientist to be appointed director of the USDA's Carl Hayden Bee Research Center.[1][2]
Early life and education
Standifer was born in Itasca, Texas on October 28, 1926. He was one of the 10 children of Emma and Nathaniel Standifer.[1]
Standifer gained a Bachelor of Science degree from Prairie View A & M University in Texas in 1949, a Masters of Science from Kansas State University in 1951, and a PhD from Cornell University in 1954.[3] The title of his dissertation was "Laboratory Studies on the Toxicity of Selected Chlorinated Hydrocarbon and Phosphate Chemicals to Third Instar Larvae of the House Fly, Musta Domestica Linn".[4]
The Bee Research Center was the largest bee research facility in the United States. Standifer followed Frank Edward Todd[5] and Marshall Levin[6] as leader,[7] the first African-American to be appointed director. The center's focus had been on pesticides and bees, and Standifer added bee nutrition to its research program.[8] Standifer held the position until 1981 and he retired for health reasons in his 50s (in 1983).[1]
Standifer married Blanche Hazel Jackson, a nurse and Meharry Medical College alum.[10] They divorced in 1963.[11] He died after a prolonged illness on March 14, 1996, in Fort Worth, Texas.[1]
^Standifer, LN (1954). Laboratory Studies on the Toxicity of Selected Chlorinated Hydrocarbon and Phosphate Chemicals to Third Instar Larvae of the House Fly, Musta Domestica Linn. Cornell University.
^Mcgregor, S. E. (1 February 1970). "Frank Edward Todd: 1895-1969". Journal of Economic Entomology. 63 (1): 346. doi:10.1093/jee/63.1.346.
^Erickson, E. (1 July 1995). "Marshall D. Levin". American Entomologist. 41 (3): 190. doi:10.1093/ae/41.3.190.
